By Kevin Shalvey
Staff Writer

A 16-year-old Bedford resident allegedly assaulted, tied up and robbed a 15-year-old behind McKelvie Middle School.

The alleged assailant was arrested Thursday, Oct. 26, and is charged with a felony charge of armed robbery, police said.

Bedford police Sgt. Scott Plumer said the alleged assailant had a knife about 4 inches long, and he will be tried as a juvenile.

At about 3 p.m. on Oct. 26, Bedford police responded to the school on a report “of a male dressed in camouflage who threatened a juvenile subject with a knife,” according to police.

Neither the alleged assailant nor victim are students at McKelvie, police said. At press time, it is still unclear where the two teens attend school.

The alleged victim had been tied with plastic restraints and robbed. Plumer said a few friends of the alleged victim were walking through commonly used trails behind the school track when they saw the assault occurr. The friends then “scared off” the alleged assailant, Plumer said.

State police and Merrimack police were called in to search the school, which was shut down for about an hour and a half, Plumer said.

“We need to just clarify that it wasn’t a lockdown,” said Superintendent Tim Mayes. “We essentially just locked the exterior doors to the building and cued people not to leave the building.”

Teachers allowed students to leave with parents, Mayes said. If the school had been in a lockdown, all the classrooms would have also been locked, and everyone inside would have stayed away from windows, Mayes said.

When the alleged assault happened, many kids had been getting ready for a championship soccer game at the school.

“It was clear that the parents and the kids cooperated with us. They all moved into the building when we asked them to and they were all cooperative in the building,” Mayes said. “In terms of what happened after the incident, it all went very well.”

Parents and neighbors were notified of the assault through an automated phone system.

Police said the alleged assailant was later found at home and had the knife on him.

He was arrested and will be charged in Merrimack District Court Juvenile Session. The teen was released to his parents, police said.