ARANSAS PASS, Texas — The Aransas Pass Police Department put three schools in an hours-long lockdown Tuesday afternoon to look for a high school student they said showed off a gun.
No one was hurt, and the police department says all students and staff are safe.
“We received a report of a student on the high school property that was armed with a firearm,” Police Chief Eric Blanchard said. “Now, he wasn’t using it, didn’t shoot it, didn’t hurt nobody but was supposedly carrying a weapon.”
The district put out its notice on Facebook shortly after 1 p.m. telling parents not to go the campuses, and if they chose to ignore that request, that they would be directed to the high school football field.
Blanchard described that student as 15 or 16 years old. He did identify the student due to the threat at the time. Since that threat is now over, 3News has chosen not to identify the student based on his age.
According to the Aransas Pass Police Department, this started with an anonymous tip about the teen. Blanchard said school staff confronted the student, searched his stuff and found a controlled substance. That’s when the student grabbed his backpack and took off. Police weren’t sure if he still had his gun at that point.
Police said the student's reaction elevated their concerns.
“Now we received another tip by that time he may have already or already did hand off a firearm that he was in possession of... but we’re working to try to either rule that in or rule that out.”
The police department put Aransas Pass High School on what the department and district calls a “hold.” That means students remain in their classrooms and no one from the outside is allowed inside the building.
Police placed two other schools – A.C. Blunt Middle School and Charlie Marshal Elementary School – on “lock out.” This allows students to continue to move about inside the building and can go to different classes, but no one from the outside can enter the building.
Parents were told to wait at the stadium parking to pick up their kids.
"It was really scary," one parent told 3News. "My niece goes to school here and she said there were kids with guns and ammo, and they took all the students in the cafeteria. It was really scary."
No official word has been provided on whether or not the student suspect has been located. 3News will keep you updated as more information becomes available.
Parents eventually picked up their children from Landmark Apostolic Pentecostal Church near the high school around 3:30 p.m. The district gave the all clear at the school a short time later.
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