WOOD COUNTY, Ohio — Charges against a couple from Virginia Beach were elevated on Wednesday, two days after their suspicious behavior on CSX Railroad property near Toledo Executive Airport and Lake High School prompted a lockdown at the school.
John Charles Davison, 38, and wife Vicki M. Davison, 33, were taken into custody without incident on Monday.
According to court documents, John Charles Davison made threats against the airport and/or the school, claiming he was "in the area checking the credibility of a threat in this area and is checking the response time of emergency personnel to such a threat," court documents say.
It was not revealed where the couple from Virginia heard of such an alleged threat to the Lake Township area nor what the perceived threat was.
Initially, the Virginia pair were charged with one count each of making terrorist threats (third-degree felony), one count of carrying a concealed weapon (fourth-degree felony), one count of inducing panic (first-degree misdemeanor) and one count of criminal trespassing (fourth-degree misdemeanor).
On Wednesday, charges were increased to second-degree felony inducing panic, as the alleged threats led to the evacuation of Lake students and staff from the building.
Lake Township Police said the suspicious incident took place on the CSX tracks between Lemoyne and Ayers roads near the Toledo Executive Airport.
Surveillance video from Get Go Transportation located at 28500 Lemoyne Rd in Millbury shows the Davisons allegedly parking in their lot around 8:30 AM. Rob Wayne, the trucking company's director of safety said something felt very off about them.
Wayne said the couple headed towards the nearby railroad tracks with shovels and a backpack. A co-worker then decided to call 911.
"It just didn't seem right. The guy was dressed in full camouflage and he had a lady friend with him and they were constantly going out of the vehicle, to the rear of the vehicle," Wayne said. "When you see something that's out of place, you better start saying something because for me that was completely not normal for this area."
Lake Township police arrested the Davisons shortly after the 911 call.
John Davison was found to have a 9 mm Glock handgun that was loaded with a round in the chamber and 120 rounds of ammunition were also in his possession, the investigation showed.
The pair have bond set at $55,000 each and a hearing is scheduled for Oct. 1.
SCHOOL RESPONSE
Police say after statements were made and items found on Monday, police and superintendent Jim Witt, agreed to put the school on lockdown.
Police say they did not believe that the school district was in imminent danger at the time, but that "out of an abundance of caution, and the strange circumstances we wanted to make sure."
Shortly after the Davisons were taken into custody Monday, students and staff were moved into the stadium as a precautionary act determined by the FBI and other agencies while local, state, and federal agents searched the campus with dogs and drones.
Witt says that once any law agency comes onto campus where a potential crime or incident could occur, that agency is in charge and the school body reacts to the agency's directives.
Witt added that upon receiving the green light that it was safe to move into the stadium, students were taken there in a very orderly and efficient manner just as the school's safety plan dictates.
Once the dogs cleared all buildings, Chief Hummer said that everyone could proceed back into the buildings and the school day could proceed on its normal schedule.
"We know that going into a lockdown causes anxiety and concern for parents. The overwhelming majority of school personnel are parents as well and we respect your concerns. However, when we are in situations like the one we just encountered we have to be very careful with the information that goes out if there is an ongoing crime investigation and we also need “all hands on deck” to ensure our safety protocols are implemented to 100% efficiency so that we can protect all of your children as well as our employees. We hope that you understand that our first responsibility is safety and sometimes the time involved in that process does not allow us to contact parents as quickly as they would like for us to do," Witt said an e-mail.
Below is Witt's full e-mail:
During mid-morning today, we received a call from Chief Hummer alerting us that local, state, and federal agents were investigating a suspicious incident across the railroad tracks from the softball field. Two people were in custody and were being interrogated at that time.
School personnel decided at that time to keep all employees and students inside our building to ensure the safety of all. Not long after that information was conveyed to our staff, Chief Hummer called me again and told us to lockdown the campus. He also informed us that local, state, and federal agents would be searching our campus with dogs and drones after the suspects were taken away from where they were being detained across the railroad tracks from our campus and after it was determined by the FBI, Secret Service, Ohio Highway Patrol, and Lake Township Police, and perhaps other agencies that it was safe for our students and staff to move into the stadium while they searched our buildings as a precautionary act. It is important to share with all of you that once any law agency comes onto our campus where a potential crime or incident could occur, that agency is in charge and we react to their directives. Those directives are all given and followed to ensure the safety of ALL who are on our school grounds.
Upon receiving the green light that it was safe to move into our stadium, we proceeded to take all of our students out in a very orderly and efficient manner just as our safety plan dictates. I am very proud of our students and staff for the way this happened. Once the dogs cleared all of our buildings, we were told by Chief Hummer that everyone could proceed back into the buildings and our day could proceed on its normal schedule.
We know that going into a lockdown causes anxiety and concern for parents. The overwhelming majority of school personnel are parents as well and we respect your concerns. However, when we are in situations like the one we just encountered we have to be very careful with the information that goes out if there is an ongoing crime investigation and we also need “all hands on deck” to ensure our safety protocols are implemented to 100% efficiency so that we can protect all of your children as well as our employees. We hope that you understand that our first responsibility is safety and sometimes the time involved in that process does not allow us to contact parents as quickly as they would like for us to do.
We appreciate your patience and we appreciate the work of our local police department in handling this situation in a most professional, efficient, and safe manner.
Superintendent
Jim Witt