BEACON FALLS — An altercation between two students at Woodland Regional High School preceded one of the students running off and a multi-town search to locate him Thursday afternoon, according to officials.
Police found the student, identified by Connecticut State Police as 16-year-old Brandon Filippone of Prospect, safe at the Waterbury train station on Meadow Street after about six hours of searching for him, police said.
Region 16 Superintendent of Schools Michael Yamin said the incident began between 12 and 12:30 p.m. when Filippone got into an alteration at Woodland with another student then left the school. After he left, Yamin said, school officials were made aware of social media posts made by Filippone that caused officials to become concerned for his safety.
Yamin said no threats toward the school were brought to the attention of administrators.
School officials called police, and state and Beacon Falls police began searching for him and issued a Silver Alert for Filippone. The search involved using a police canine and a helicopter to try to locate him, police said.
The search extended to Prospect and Waterbury before the teen was found safe at about 6:40 p.m., according to police.
“I want to thank the state police and local police,” Yamin said. “They did a great job.”
Sgt. Eric Haglund, of the Connecticut State Police, said Filippone was taken to a hospital for evaluation but wasn’t injured. He said there is no criminal aspect to the incident.
