Incident

Yesterday evening I received a text message from my son that the entire school was on lock-down because of an incident involving a weapon, and that I needed to come pick him up. When we arrived at the school, there were dozens of police vehicles, fire engines, and EMS cars all around the campus. We joined other parents on the sidewalk and were briefed by the police officer, who told us that there was a report of a weapon on campus, but that all the kids were safe in their locked rooms, and each group had an officer with them.

After what seemed like a long time, they told us that there was no danger, but that the school needed to be searched and that they couldn’t let anyone leave until that happened. 30 minutes later all the parents were escorted to the front of the school, and the kids were released to us one-by-one. It was kind of crazy… many of the kids came out visibly shaken up, sobbing, and went to hug their parents. When Koa came out, I asked him what it was like… his response was, “Eh”.

It was a surreal situation, though, to see all the cops, many with long guns, helmets, bulletproof vests (the whole 9 yards!), police SUVs driving across the grass towards the school, worried parents hugging each other, etc.

Thankfully, everything turned out okay, and what caused the lock-down were some photos on social media of students with air-soft guns, but still, this was a serious deal. I’m really not a fan of guns, and I just kept thinking if these situations could be avoided in a gun-free society.

You can read the news story here.