The security officer and students at Hammond High School took appropriate steps in preventing what could have been a dangerous situation when another student was found with a loaded handgun, said school officials.
“Everything turned out safely, and students did the safest thing,” said Anna Gable, school system spokeswoman, referring to the students who overheard the armed student talk about having the weapon. They then informed a teacher, who told the resource officer.
Howard County high schools do not have a standard procedure for responding to reports of a weapon at school, but board policies do address consequences for such actions, Gable said.
However, a resource officer, employed and supervisedby the county police at every county high school, has the authority to decide how to confront an armed student, said Steve Drummond, schools security coordinator, Monday.
The resource officer, who is a trained police officer, removed the 15-year-old student Friday from class to conduct the weapon search.
“A lockdown is only used when there is an armed person in the building and we are trying to keep students away from the intruder, but in this case the student was sitting in the classroom and it would not have been appropriate to lock him in the room with other students,” Drummond said.
Howard police said they have no new information.
“We think there was some sort of dispute, but we are unsure what sparked it at this point,” said Sherry Llewellyn, police spokeswoman.
The student, whom police did not identify, was released from custody Friday and transferred to Alfred D. Noyes Children?s Center, a Rockville detention facility, according to police.
The student was charged with possession of a concealed deadly weapon and possession of a handgun on school property. He has been suspended for the remainder of the school year.
