DeKalb County Student With Alleged Weapon Prompted Lockdown: Police

DEKALB COUNTY, GA — A student will face multiple charges such as aggravated assault after a DeKalb County high school was on lockdown Thursday morning because of active shooter reports, officials said.

Emory University sent out an alert on Twitter around 11:30 a.m. Thursday saying there was an active shooter on campus. They later removed the tweet and said there was possibly an armed person in the area, but not an active shooter on campus. Druid Hills High School officials placed the school on a lockdown, which has since been lifted.

DCSD Police Chief Bradley Gober addressed the media Thursday afternoon. He said the student is a juvenile and they didn’t find a weapon on the student, but police said they are leading them to where it could possibly be.

“At approximately 10:30 a.m. students came to the principal’s office to let him know that they believed another student in class had a weapon,” he said. "The principal then informed the safety team and administrators about the accusations.

“They immediately followed DeKalb County Schools protocol and locked the schools down,” he said.

A search for the alleged weapon from classroom to classroom then took place, Gober said. Once they cleared the school they then learned the student may be in the surrounding area, he said.

Emory University Police Department found the student on campus and took them into custody.

Gober said the motive is unknown at this time, but investigators are still looking into the incident.

The district’s "See Something? Say Something" campaign has helped keep students safe, he said, but Gober encouraged families to talk to their children about the dangers of weapons.

"Druid Hills High School was placed on lockdown at approximately 10:40 a.m. out of an abundance of caution due to a report of an unsafe situation," the school district said in a statement to Patch.

"The lockdown did not result from an active situation," they said. "Officers with the DeKalb County School District Police Department and the DeKalb County Police Department were on site throughout the lockdown."