High School Goes On Lockdown As Police Arrest Aggressive Student
MELROSE (CBS) -- A Melrose High School student was arrested and the school was on lockdown Friday morning as officials responded to a potential threat.
At around 9:30 a.m., the school received a phone call from a parent saying a male student may have a gun in the building.
School Superintendent Cyndy Taymore said the phone call was referring an online conversation about where the student could get a hold of a gun.
The online conversations "seemed to be 'how do you get a gun?' 'how does one go about buying a gun?' and then later on, 'if anybody squeals, I'm going to find out who squeals,'" Taymore said.
She also stressed, "nobody was specifically targeted, the schools were never specifically targeted."
Following the phone call, the high school and middle school were immediately placed on lockdown.
Police said the school resource officer then found the student in question and took him into custody.
No weapons were found when they searched his backpack, or anywhere in the school.
The student was arrested after he left the school during the lockdown and failed to listen to police. "Rumor was he had a gun but not conclusive, but everyone was scared," Melrose High School senior Adonis Logan said.
It took several police officers to arrest him.
During the arrest, one officer injured his leg and was transported to Melrose-Wakefield Hospital. The officer is expected to be OK.
"Officers followed our protocol for an arrest. The individual became violent and one officer sustained an injury, now you are down to two officers and they effected an arrest," said Melrose Police Chief Michael Lyle.
He confirmed that pepper spray was used during the arrest.
Taymore said this was the first time in her tenure that Melrose schools have been put on lockdown because of a gun threat.
Police said the disorderly student was charged with assault and battery, disorderly conduct, and other additional charges and arraigned on Friday afternoon at Cambridge juvenile court.
Still school officials thank the parent for calling the school and warning them. "This week has been stressful for everyone and students are talking about Las Vegas and we are at a point if you are throwing around the word gun you have to respond," Superintendent Taymore said.
School officials plan to meet next week to decide the next stops in terms of discipline, but he is not allowed back in school on Tuesday when it reopens. The incident remains under investigation.
The lockdown was lifted around 9:45 a.m.
Students at Melrose High School said at first, they thought the lockdown was a drill.
"At first everybody in the class wasn't taking anything [seriously]," said Nathan Lahens, a Melrose High student who sat through the lockdown. "We were all laughing, making jokes. And once we seen that text message, we all just got serious and stopped all the joking around."
Another student recalled,"They thought it was a drill as first so they started to resume class, then it started again, and then we heard the sirens, and then the lady on the loud-speaker got really frantic, 'get away from the windows, get away from the doors, everybody get down, get down.'"
