By Geoff Rushton and Ben Jones
A rumor that a student was in possession of a gun led to a parent calling 911 and a brief lockdown of State College Area High School on Wednesday afternoon, according to police and school officials.
Superintendent Bob O’Donnell said that principals were informed earlier on Wednesday that a student had a bullet and was showing it to classmates. State College Police School Resource Officer John Aston immediately investigated and found that the student did have a bullet but did not have a gun. The bullet was taken from the student.
‘Even though the initial incident involving the bullet was resolved, a rumor began to circulate that there was also a gun,’ O’Donnell said, adding that school administrators were not aware of the rumor at the time.
Students began communicating the rumor to parents, and one parent called 911, reporting a student had a gun at the school.
Principals then placed the school on lockdown at 12:34 p.m. and police responded swiftly, with 19 officers from State College and Ferguson Township on the scene. O’Donnell said he believes the principals made the right decision to lockdown while the situation was verified.
Students and faculty were kept securely in place while police and principals investigated the gun report, O’Donnell said. The lockdown was lifted after 10 minutes.
‘Throughout the morning and that time period during the lockdown, all students and employees were safe,’ O’Donnell said. ‘On behalf of our district, I appreciate the students who reported the incident …our principals, faculty and Officer Aston, as well as the speedy response of our first responders.’
State College Police Chief John Gardner said that he believes the 911 caller did the right thing.
‘In this day and age when you hear of somebody with a gun in any social setting and in particular a school, I’m not going to sit here and say it was an overreaction,’ Gardner said. ‘I think it’s… better safe than sorry and we’re going to continue to respond like that every time we hear something like that.’
The district initially sent a brief message to families notifying them everyone was safe, and O’Donnell said the school received a large number of phone calls during the short lockdown period. O’Donnell said the statement went out as quickly as possible, but did not go out a few minutes earlier because school officials were in communication with police ‘to make sure everything was thoroughly vetted and that we knew everybody was safe.’
A follow-up communication was then sent to families with further details.
Gardner said the matter was ‘thoroughly investigated’ and commended school staff, administrators and officers for acting according to their training.
‘Our primary concern was to identify and locate the student in question. We were able to do that and soon after put out a brief message that all was safe at the school and there were no concerns,’ Gardner said. ‘We will continue to investigate this matter and look at policies and procedures. If we have things to improve on we will do that. I think in this particular case everyone acted accordingly and did their job as expected, and I think that’s something to be proud of.’
O’Donnell said possession of ammunition is a violation of the district’s weapons policy and the student may face disciplinary action. Gardner said that the continued investigation will determine if charges are warranted against the student who had the bullet.
Gardner added that the incident illustrates the importance of ‘if you see something, say something,’ and that if students, teachers or staff see something of concern, no matter how minute it may seem, they should report it.
‘The last thing you want to do is not report something and have something tragic happen,’ Gardner said. ‘I think the individuals today did the right thing.’
State College Police Chief John Gardner and SCASD Superintendent Bob O’Donnell speak to the media on Feb. 27.
