HARRISBURG, Pa. — Students, parents, and staff at Central Dauphin East High School are breathing a sigh of relief following a lengthy lockdown.
The incident all started over a picture of the weapon that a student allegedly brought to school. It was a different student who made the initial report to school administrators.
"I heard on the announcements that there was a lockdown," senior Michael Yetters said. "I ran to the first classroom I saw.”
It was the pictured gun that sent Central Dauphin East High School into lockdown Thursday morning, prompting a swift response from local and state police.
Dozens of officers from the Lower Paxton Township Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, and other local departments assisted the Central Dauphin School Police in the search.
Yetter says he was in one of the first rooms to be searched.
"They pull us out, they searched us one-by-one," he said. "We couldn’t take our bag or nothin, we could only take our phone with us."
Authorities conducted a systematic search of the building, first taking students out of the classroom and patting them down.
"After those students left that room, K-9 sweeps were done with firearm detection K-9s," Lower Paxton Township Director of Public Safety Adam Kosheba said.
The gun was located around 4 p.m. and was not in a classroom or the cafeteria. Police did not say if the gun was loaded.
As of Thursday afternoon, the bag seen in the photo was still unaccounted for.
"The officers are going room by room again, looking at the belongings left behind," Kosheba said during the press conference at 5:30 p.m. "That search continues as we speak.”
An unknown number of juveniles were detained, and it’s not clear how many were directly related to the firearm.
Students were released at 4:05 p.m., nearly an hour and a half past their scheduled dismissal. Many were frustrated that a classmate would bring in a gun.
"Talk to a parent or a trusted adult before you make a decision like this, or at least think it over," junior Isaiah Palmer said. "You don’t want someone else getting hurt or to go to jail for a long time just for doing something stupid and petty like that. You just got to think."
Parents we're also upset, with many patiently waiting for information and for their kids to be let go.
"I texted my son, been texting my son, but I haven’t heard back from him," parent Savannah Stanton said. "I’m just trying to see what’s going on."
The school will open on Tuesday following a scheduled in-service day on Friday and President’s Day on Monday.
District officials commended the cooperation of students and the staff, and said no injuries were reported.
Weekend extracurriculars have been moved off campus so that police can continue to investigate.