Patterson High Student Found With Gun At School, Police Say
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Patterson High School student was arrested with a loaded gun at school Monday, sending the school into lockdown as police took them into custody.
According to a post by Sgt. Clyde Boatwright, two unarmed city schools officer came face-to-face with the student. A struggle ensued and the student was disarmed and taken into custody.
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After taking him into custody, Boatwright said the officers found a loaded semi-automatic handgun in the student's waistband.
The student was suspected in an attempted murder, Boatwright said. He was wanted by city police for the non-fatal shooting.
Police have not yet released the name of the student.
No injuries were reported.
In a letter sent home to parents, Principal Vance Benton said Monday was, "a troubling day for our school community."
"A plan was coordinated with our school administrators, our culture/climate specialist and school police in preparation for the student's arrival to school," the letter read. "Once we were notified that the student had arrived, we put the plan in motion that included the school being placed on total lockdown... I want to assure you that at no time was the gun used to threaten any of our students or staff members, and the student was taken into custody without incident."
The school will have extra officers on hand at the beginning and the end of the school day on Tuesday, Benton said.
"It happened fast and the alarm went off real quick," one student said of the lockdown.
Another student said her mom might keep her home on Tuesday.
"My mom is very protective so she might not let me go (to school tomorrow)," she said.
The incident marks the 28th time a gun has made its way inside a Baltimore City school since 2016, Boatwright said. One of those incidents was back in 2018 when school police said a gun went off in a bathroom after two students brought guns to Maree Garnett Farring Elementary School.
Each time a gun makes it into a school, the union said it's more proof their officers should be armed in schools.
"There is nowhere else in the state of Maryland that forces their officers to (be unarmed)," Boatright said.
