Crime & Safety

Police: PMHS Student Sets Fire Inside Classroom (Update)

18-year-old faces arson and reckless endangerment charges, police said.

An 18-year-old Patchogue-Medford High School student has been arrested Tuesday for allegedly starting a fire in an occupied classroom, Suffolk County police told Patch.

According to police, the student lit a paper mache mannequin on fire at around 10 a.m. inside of the 181 Buffalo Ave. high school in Medford.

Police say the student is charged with arson in the 5th degree and reckless endangerment in the second degree.

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Parents that have emailed into Patch have said that their student had to be outside of the school earlier in the day. 

Patchogue-Medford School District issued the below message via Connect Ed Tuesday evening to parents regarding the incident:

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This is message from Mr. Locantore, Superintendent of the Patchogue-Medford School District.

I would like to inform you that today at approximately 10:15 a.m. a high school student set fire to an item in a classroom. The fire alarm sounded; the teacher extinguished the fire; all students, faculty, and staff were safely evacuated. The fire department responded.  

The student was identified and later arrested. 

I will be taking swift and serious action in this matter.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support.

This article was originally published at Oct. 29 5:05 p.m. It was updated at 11:52 p.m. with information from the school district's connect ed message.


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