Students and staff at Niagara Falls City High School were placed in a brief lockdown late Thursday morning. WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley says it was issued as precautionary measure.
Niagara Falls High School students were placed in lockdown at 11:15 a.m. School administrator had suspicion that a student may have brought a gun into the school. Falls City Schools superintendent Mark Laurrie tells WBFO it was reported by another student after a situation in the school parking lot.
“At approximately 11:15 a.m. a student, a boy, senior, reported to his house principal, a girl – of whom he has a restraining order against and she him, blocked his car in the parking lot and waved a handgun at him,” Laurrie explained.
The school called the female student on her cell phone. She initially claimed she was in school, but then admitted she was in her car.
“The girl answered by saying ‘I’m in school. ‘No you’re not – where are you?’ – I’m in school – where in school are you? They said we’re in lockdown, you’re not in school. Oh I’m driving to school.’ She gave a description of her car. The police then met the car in the parking lot, at which time, she and the car were searched, finding no weapon of any sort,” described Laurrie.
However, she was arrested for violating an order of protection against the other student. The lockdown was lifted and students were allowed to resume their normal school day. Superintendent Mark Laurrie said it’s frustrating that students are failing to understand the severity of making verbal threats.
“When it becomes an issue to someone personally, they still regress to using language that is really unacceptable and can turn a whole school upside down so to speak – not to be dramatic about it Eileen, but it did – it turns 2,000 people upside down – the disruption to the calmness and sense of security we want to bring to the school,” replied Laurrie.
