2 Guns Found, Lockdown At Evanston Township High School

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston Township High School was placed on lockdown Thursday after two guns were discovered on campus, according to police.

The school was initially placed on a soft lockdown around 9:45 a.m. before being placed on full lockdown around 10:30 a.m., according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

As students and teachers sheltered in place amid a heavily armed police presence at the school, administrators did not inform them of the nature of the threat.

Evanston Police Cmdr. Ryan Glew said the incident began with an investigation into marijuana use inside the high school.

“At 9:32 a.m. an Evanston Police Department school resource officer was altered to the possibility of individuals smoking cannabis in a bathroom,” Glew told reporters. “That Evanston police school resource officer responded with ETHS safety staff to that bathroom where they detained two individuals for smoking cannabis.”

The initial investigation also led to the recovery of two handguns, which triggered the approximately three-hour lockdown, Glew told reporters after students were released.

“The investigation also showed that there were six other individuals in addition to these two that were in the bathroom at the time,” he added. “Four of these individuals were detained relatively quickly, two were not detained for some time.“

All eight people involved are students and under the age of 18.

Glew said the investigation indicates that the incident is not related to last month’s deadly shooting on Green Bay Road, which wounded multiple ETHS students and killed a Niles North High School student.

Police said there were no shots fired or any injuries related to Thursday’s incident.

A spokesperson for the school district did not respond to requests for information during the lockdown.

At a brief news conference in which no questions were taken, Interim City Manager Kelley Gandurski thanked police and said the City Council had previously scheduled a special meeting for Monday to discuss “community outreach efforts” and gun violence in Evanston.

“Today could have been tragic,” Gandurski said, “but for the quick response and great actions of our police officers and the safety personnel at ETHS.”

Following the incident, district officials issued an unattributed statement acknowledging the lockdown and emphasizing that the safety of students and staff is "a top priority at Evanston Township High School."

It said the guns were loaded and found inside backpacks along with marijuana. According to the statement, the officer assigned to the campus first took possession of the guns and marijuana before more officers arrived.

"After further review, entrances/exits were closed, EPD advised the school to go into lockdown, and students were detained," it said.

Video posted on social media appears to show armed Evanston police officers enter a classroom and handcuff a student. The district's statement said school officials are continuing to coordinate and cooperate with police during the investigation.

"Please be assured that we will continue to do everything we can to ensure the safety of our students and staff at ETHS," it said. "We recognize that this has been a very difficult day in a very difficult time at ETHS."