Affidavit sheds more light on details in Milton teen's arrest over school lockdown incident

Guerdon Zerbinopoulos sits inside Courtroom 1 at Strafford County Superior Court on his arraignment day March 22 as his mom, middle, enters to sit beside her son. (Rochester Voice file photo)

DOVER - A police affidavit signed in mid-March but only unsealed recently shows that the Milton teenager who caused a lockdown at Nute High threatened to drive his truck into the school's front entrance and almost hit his ex-girlfriend as she stood between the truck and the entrance in an effort to stop him.

The affidavit, presently on file at Strafford County Superior Court, also reveals that 18-year-old Guerdon Zerbinopoulos threatened Nute High and Middle School Principal Jan Radowicz saying he would "smash her face" as she sought to intervene in events that led up to the lockdown.

Zerbinopoulos was arrested on felony reckless conduct and several enhanced misdemeanors for criminal threatening in a school in connection with the March 6 incident, but his May 17 indictment shows only the single reckless conduct charge, which was the most serious.

It calls for a three and a half to seven year prison sentence if convicted.

The affidavit filed by Milton Police Chief Richard Krauss said he was called to Nute High on March 6 for a former student inside the building who refused to leave, and that when he arrived, Zerbinopoulos was inside his truck in front of the pillars at the main entrance of the school.

Krauss immediately placed Zerbinopoulos in handcuffs and got him into the rear of the cruiser, after which he went inside to further investigate.

His investigation revealed that staff including Radowicz and Assistant Principal Jen Leavitt had asked him to leave multiple times but he had refused.

Then after he chased two students out of the building, he was locked out and began kicking, punching and throwing his weight at the doors to get back in.

Finally, it was learned that he drove at the building, stopping just short of hitting it.

The next day, March 7, Krauss returned for follow-up interviews and learned that Zerbinopoulos had threatened to smash Radowicz' face and threatened to kill, Radowicz, Leavitt and his ex-girlfriend.

Central to the reckless conduct charge, Krauss in his affidavit also states it was learned that "when Guerdon was getting into his vehicle he threatened to drive his truck into the building and that (his ex-girlfriend) attempted to stop him from doing this. (She) ran across the front of the building and Guerdon accelerated his vehicle towards the front of the building, causing (her) to have to speed up her pace of movement to get out of the way ... The use of the vehicle in this manner recklessly placed (her) in danger of serious bodily injury or death if she was struck by the vehicle, which was not in proper working order."

The grand jury indictments were handed down on May 17 and released on Wednesday.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt, only that enough evidence has been gathered to warrant a trial.