Theatrical prop prompts St. George police response
Just before noon, a student wearing blue jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt arrived at school with what St. George Police Sgt. James Van Fleet said could have looked from a distance like a real older-style weapon.
At least 20 officers, including SWAT members, responded to the schools and set up a perimeter while a resource officer inside the high school searched for a student matching the description callers had given. The lockdown lasted about a half hour until the student was located, at that point revealing the gun was fake.
"This wasn't an intent to cause alarm," Van Fleet said. "This was just, 'Hey, I'm bringing in a prop."'
Although he felt bad for parents who were uncertain for a while about what was happening at both schools, Van Fleet looked at the incident as training that went well.
"You can never get enough exercise for the unfortunate real thing," he said. "I'm sure parents would answer it differently."
Recent comments
A gun is a gun A knife is a knife if they can't tell the difference…
Fake or Real? | Oct. 13, 2008 at 7:12 a.m.
Did this happen before your English class?
Very intence | Oct. 11, 2008 at 6:43 p.m.
Better safe than sorry!!!
Anonymous | Oct. 10, 2008 at 10:52 p.m.
