Christopher James Verdoni, an 18-year-old student at Wesley Spectrum Highland Services in Whitehall Borough, has been charged with aggravated assault, simple assault and making terroristic threats from his actions at the school on Thursday morning, Whitehall police Deputy Chief Richard M. Danko said.

Danko said that Whitehall police officers responded to the Highland Services building at around 11:10 that morning. Two of the school's staff members—a nurse and a secretary—told police that they were injured there while attempting to control Verdoni.

The employees said that Verdoni punched one of them in the back of the head/neck area and threw the other against a wall, according to Danko.

Verdoni, who lives at 900 Manor Dr. in Collier Township, left the school's grounds on his own and was never found, Danko said, but police are charging him with his offenses via summons.

He is scheduled to appear in front of District Magistrate David J. Barton on Feb. 19. (UPDATE: Verdoni's charges were held for court. He then faced them at the Allegheny County Courthouse on April 8 and moved on to a pretrial conference at the county courthouse on May 10. He will now have a non-jury trial starting on July 10.)

Wesley Spectrum Services' Highland location is found along Caste Drive in Whitehall. The school offers special education for children and young adults with behavioral health issues. Those students come to Wesley from their local school districts.

Read through other Whitehall police items here.

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