MINNEAPOLIS — A student fired multiple gun shots in the hall of Plymouth Middle School on Monday morning. No one was injured, but parents flocked to the school, anxiously waiting — some for several hours — to hug their children in relief.
The sixth-grade boy took the handgun from a drawer in his father's bedroom of their home in Plymouth and brought it to school, the man told the Star Tribune.
The shots rang out about 8:45 a.m. outside of a bathroom, and a school resource officer apprehended the student, said Plymouth Police Chief Erik Fadden. The gun was recovered, Fadden said.
A lockdown was in place for more than 700 students until about noon at the school for sixth- through eighth-grade students, which is part of the Robbinsdale School District in suburban Minneapolis.
The father, who talked to his 12-year-old son at the school afterward, said he had seen nothing in the boy's behavior to indicate such an incident was possible. The Star Tribune is not identifying the man to protect his juvenile son's identity.
"I think he realizes the mistake he has made," the father said. "I hope they can get him the help he needs."
As his son was being held in juvenile detention, the father said, "My mind is kind of numb. I wasn't expecting this."
The father pointed to "the COVID that has taken its stress level" on students as learning experience is disrupted by the pandemic.
"This was not racial," the man said, pointing out that "it's blowing up on social media."
Interim District Superintendent Stephanie Burrage said, "We had an unfortunate situation today. Anytime there is a gun in the school (that) puts our kids in jeopardy. ... It's not a fun day for anyone to manage a gun in a school."
Burrage was asked whether the student said anything during the incident, and she replied, "We can't share what was said."
The superintendent said the district has been in contact with the student's parents.
A staff member first encountered the student before the school resource officer stepped in and made the arrest, police said.
"Thank God there was a school resource officer there to de-escalate," said Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson, whose office will have personnel on the campus to assist police throughout the day.
School resource officers working in Plymouth "wear plainclothes and are equipped similarly to a patrol officer, with a Taser, firearm and body camera," said police spokeswoman Karen Anderson. Police said the boy was detained without use of any lethal or nonlethal deployment.
The district directed families wishing to pick up students to go to the east parking lot of nearby Armstrong High School for reunification.
Small groups of students started leaving around noon and were provided bag lunches as they headed toward the high school.
Seventh-grader Lola Hodgson texted her mother, Nikia Slaughter, at 8:47 a.m. that the school was on lockdown and that several shots had been fired.
"We don't entirely know what the hell is going on," Hodgson texted her mother, who headed for the school.
"I was bawling," Slaughter said from the high school's parking lot, where a few hundred parents gathered, waiting to pick up their students. Many of them were wiping tears or bent over their phones, texting their children for updates.
Slaughter was joined by her mother, Karen Jetson. When they got the news from the school at 10 a.m. that there were no students hurt, they both said they felt overwhelming relief.
"My hands finally stopped shaking," Slaughter said.
"This is the best outcome of the worst situation," Jetson said.
