ATLANTA ( Associated Press) — A Georgia high school student was arrested Thursday after the school was locked down and a report of a potentially armed suspect asked people to shelter at nearby Emory University.
DeKalb County School District Police Chief Bradley Gober said at a news conference that the student, who is a minor, was arrested just before 4 p.m. and would be charged with aggravated assault and carrying a gun in the school security area. , news outlets reported.
Other students went to the principal’s office at Druid Hills High School to report that they thought the student had a gun. Officers searched the campus of the high school, but could not find the student, leading them to believe that the student had left the campus.
As news outlets report, Emory police found the student on the university campus after hours of searching.
Donald Porter, a spokesman for the DeKalb County School System, said in an email that the school was placed on lockdown around 10:40 a.m. “due to extreme caution due to reports of unsafe conditions.” He said the lockdown “was not the result of a proactive situation.”
Porter said the school system and county police were onsite during the entire lockdown, which was lifted around 12:10 p.m.
Maia Higgins, 16, said she and other students had to stay in their classes when the school went into lockdown. Principal Mark Joyner announced on the public address system that it was a “Level 2” lockdown, which Higgins took to mean there was some sort of threat but no active shooter.
Higgins said a photo of a student with a handgun had circulated on social media. It is not known whether the picture is related to the lockdown or not.
Local news website Decaturish. According toJoyner also sent a notification to the parents about the situation.
“We are currently under a level 2 lockdown due to a report that an unauthorized person was seen on the premises,” Joyner wrote. “DeKalb School’s Department of Public Safety is helping to ensure that everyone on campus is authorized to live here. All students and staff are safe at this time.”
In a tweet at around 11:40 pm, Emory said an active shooter had been reported on the premises and that police were responding. The university later deleted that tweet and sent out another tweet shortly after noon that police were on the scene at nearby Druid Hills High School. The tweet said there was a “potentially armed subject” but that there was no active shooter at the Emory compound.
In the early afternoon, the university tweeted from time to time advising people to stay on campus. Finally a completely clear notification was issued around 2:20 pm
The incident comes just ahead of graduation weekend at the private university, which consistently ranks among the top schools of higher education in the Southeast. The main opening ceremony is Monday, including a speech by entertainment mogul Tyler Perry.
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