500 Washington state high school students stay home from school after 5 masked attackers enter school day prior

More than 500 students decided not to show up for school at a Washington state high school on Tuesday after a group of masked individuals gave the school a scare on Monday.

Fox News reported that the Auburn School District shared that there were 532 students who did not show up for the start of class on Tuesday at Auburn Riverside High School after an incident that apparently startled the close community.

The masked individuals showing up to the school apparently had something to do with a series of fights that took place the week before, according to KIRO-TV. The school district provided information on the situation, which was sent out by Principal Janalyn McKeehan.

Dear Auburn Riverside High School Families:

I want to let you know about two related incidents that happened at school today.

At about 10:30 a.m., a fight broke out between four students. The students who were involved in the fight were removed from campus. Unfortunately, after school, a few of these students came back on campus with a couple of non-students, and another fight occurred. This fight was related to the earlier incident. A school resource officer, Auburn Police Department (APD), school administrators, and the fire department responded to the fight. One student who was being cared for by the fire department was discovered to have a BB gun in their possession.

We appreciate our partnership with the APD. We know it can be concerning when there is additional police presence on campus.

We have had a number of families contact us already with video of the incident, or other information. We appreciate the outreach.

Safety is our top priority and I wanted you to go into this weekend having accurate information.

One mother, Brandy Garber, whose daughter attends the high school, said she decided to keep her daughter home after the strange incident.

"She’s scared," Garber said, describing her daughter's demeanor. "Then on the other side of it, she wants to go to school because she feels like her grades are dropping with me keeping her out. But as a parent, what do you do?"

The Auburn Police Department said that there were five masked individuals who entered the school through a side door around 1:00 p.m. and walked into a classroom. They apparently ran through the halls, shoved several students, and even punched one.

Following the bizarre incident, the high school went into a "secure and teach" lockdown throughout the rest of the day. Doors were securely locked, and students were made to remain in their designated classrooms.

It is unclear if there are suspects in the case.

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