An 18-year-old was taken into custody early this afternoon for allegedly bringing an unloaded revolver into Fels High School, police said. The Langdon Street school had been locked down after a student showed administrators a cellphone photo of the gun.
Chief Inspector Dennis Wilson announced the lockdown was ending at about 1:45 p.m. The unloaded handgun had been found in a weight room trash can. Police did not release the name of the man in custody because he had not been charged yet, but added he will be.
The lockdown began shortly before 9 a.m., district spokesman Fernando Gallard said, after school administrators saw the photo of the revolver. Students and teachers were confined to their classrooms as police K-9 officers searched for the weapon and the man who brought it into the school.
Wilson said it was not known how the weapon was brought inside the school since Fels has metal detectors.
At about 12:30 p.m. as police vehicles began leaving the property, Capt. Frank Palumbo, the 2nd district commander, told anxious parents gathered outside that everyone was safe and that the lockdown was ending soon.
Several parents said it was calls or texts from their children that had brought them to the school. One parent said her daughter texted her that shots were fired in the school, but police and Gallard said that had not occurred.
Principal Shawn McGuigan told parents shortly before 1 p.m. that the lockdown was over and that students would be served lunch. He gave parents the option of signing their kids out if they wished.
Earlier police on the scene said they were talking to some students, but none had been taken into custody, and that the search for the weapon extended to a student’s home. Further details were not available. ••
