Safford High School was in lockdown for several hours last Friday following reports of a student with a gun on campus. According to the police report, 27 police officers and deputies responded to the scene. School administrators said that several students had reported seeing a white male, wearing yellow leather boots, black sweat pants and a grey hoodie carrying a gun. The suspect was reportedly last seen in the bathroom across the hall from the school office. The first officers arrived at approximately 8:40 and immediately cleared both bathrooms by the administration office.
Officers then split up to clear the rest of the school, starting with the main building hallways, upstairs and downstairs. They checked each classroom door to see if they were locked. If a door was unlocked, they entered and cleared the room. After clearing the main building, they moved to the gymnasium and cafeteria and cleared them in the same manner.
After the first sweep through the buildings, officers regrouped and cleared the school a second time, entering each classroom, searching for the student suspected of having a handgun and to verify that all students and faculty were okay.
During the secondary search, an officer holding the perimeter on the northwest corner of the senior parking lot said there was a student wearing all black clothing standing on the back side of the gym near the football field with his hands up. Police approached the student and ordered him to the ground with his hands to his sides. The student was searched and no weapons were found.
The student told officers that he had been on the football field for band practice and was collecting equipment from the field when the lockdown was announced. The student ran to the football field restroom on the north side of the stands and braced himself against the door. He refused to open the door, even when he heard them call, “police.” The student said that he wasn’t sure if it really was the police so he didn’t open the door. When he heard sirens, he felt assured that law enforcement was there and came out of the bathroom. Officers searched the bathroom and found the students band instrument, music and some cones. No other items were found.
Officers searched the Center for the Arts in the same manner as the other buildings and cleared the building without finding the suspect or any weapons.
After all the searches were finished, students were released one classroom at a time and instructed to follow faculty members to the bus barn where they could be picked up. Once all the students and faculty were out of the building, officers conducted a third search of the school, looking for any students or faculty that might still be inside. After the third search, officers verified that there were no students or faculty in the school and there was no longer a threat.
False information on social media began spreading almost immediately. Rumors that somebody had been shot surfaced as well as spurious posts naming students as the suspect with a gun. A parent reportedly showed up at the high school during the lockdown, banging on locked doors, demanding that they let her child out.
Detectives interviewed the students who reported seeing the student with the gun. Information from those interviews was not immediately available.
