DeKalb County

Student in custody after pulling gun on another student at high school, police say

By Tyisha Fernandes, WSB-TV
By Tyisha Fernandes, WSB-TV

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A student was arrested Tuesday morning after he was found with a gun on campus in DeKalb County, police said.

The incident happened at Lithonia High School after a student reported that another student pulled a gun on him around 8:30 a.m. He told officials, and they immediately put the school on a level 3 lockdown.

Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes was at Lithonia High School, where she got a tip about a weapon on campus moments after it happened. Channel 2 Action News was the first new station at the scene.

Paramedics, police and firefighters rushed to the scene.

Police eventually found the student in a classroom with the gun on him and no shots were ever fired.

Fernandes talked to students and teachers who were inside the school and thought there was an active shooter on campus.

Some students said they waited about an hour hiding in classrooms on the floor.

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"My daughter texted me earlier and said they were on a level 3 lockdown, and she thought someone may be in the school with a gun," parent Andrea Harris said. "Her and her teacher and the other students are down on the floor in a corner."

Harris said parents didn't know what to do. She was just glad her daughter had her phone in her pocket.

"They didn't send out an email or nothing," Harris said. "If she didn't have her cellphone, I wouldn't even know anything."

Melinda Sanchez thought she was only going to be at Lithonia High School for a few minutes Tuesday morning as she registered her daughter for school.

Fernandes talked to Sanchez, who said officials put the school on lockdown moments after she got there.

"We just had to stay in the office and close the door," Sanchez said.

Sanchez said the phone was constantly ringing while she was stuck inside the school and all she could think about was how many nervous parents wanted to know what was happening.

"They didn't want to answer the phones. I don't know why that was," Sanchez said. "I think they should've answered the phones at least to calm the parents down."

The school district released a statement about the incident after the student was arrested:

"DeKalb County School District Police officers responded swiftly and conducted an investigation on-site. As a result of that investigation, a student has been taken into custody and a weapon has been recovered," the school district said in a statement to Channel 2 Action News. 

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