A Jefferson County man has been arrested and is facing charges in connection with statements he allegedly made as students were being dismissed from Buckeye North Elementary School on Thursday.

Officials with the Buckeye Local School District and the Wells Township Police Department said the suspect, Dale Dollison, was criticizing security and talking about taking a gun in the school just to show that he could.

Dollison never threatened to fire a weapon or hurt anyone, which is why officials said parents were never informed about the incident.

School and police officials took the threat seriously, however. They said parents were waiting for their children to dismiss when Dollison allegedly talked about trying to get a gun inside the school to show how ineffective security was.

Parents took their concerns about the comments to the district's resource officer.

"With the heightened security with the things that are taking place at the other schools in the Valley, Buckeye Local does take our security very seriously," said Superintendent Mark Miller.

Wells Township police then investigated, determined the statement was an indirect threat and arrested Dollison.

Dollison was charged with inducing panic because of the actions police had to take, and he could face eight years in prison.

Wells Township Police Chief John Ingram said, "It's very serious when you make threats like this to a school or place of higher education like this. It's a felony 2, so it's a very serious crime. … With that happening and the way things are today, we took extra precautions on Friday with extra police at the school and administrators. And everything went well. No kids were ever in danger."

Officials said their procedures and safety measures were followed to a T and that's why the arrest was made.

Miller said, "Sometimes people want to try and make a point and they want to say, 'I can do this or do that.' This was silly because the only person getting hurt was themselves. They were made an example of."

Buckeye Local administrators will meet at 6:30 p.m. tonight and Miller said safety at all area schools will be discussed.