Comment About Gun Leads To Harwood High School Lockdown

HARWOOD, MD — A student who joked about having a gun at Southern High School Monday morning prompted a lockdown, according to school officials. Authorities did not locate a weapon and the lockdown ended after approximately 10 minutes.

“In the end, there was no danger to any students or staff," Bob Mosier, spokesman for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, told the Baltimore Sun.

Mosier said students in Spanish class were working on phrases when one teen boy responded to the teacher's question in English that he had a gun. When the teacher asked the student what he’d just said, he repeated he had a gun, Mosier said. The teacher contacted school authorities and the school was locked down. Anne Arundel County police officers then were contacted. A search revealed no weapon.

“It’s beyond entirely inappropriate in any kind of setting, but especially in a school setting, to say that or anything like that," Mosier said. "We’re in an era where any reference to weapons can be taken in any other way than with the utmost seriousness.”