Feb 29, 2008 10:00 pm US/Central
California Student Arrested After School Gun Scare
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) ―
Police arrested a student on suspicion of carrying a weapon Friday after a daylong lockdown and search of a high school and students.
The male student, whose name was not released, was taken into custody for investigation of being a minor possessing a firearm, police said in a statement. It did not indicate whether a weapon had been found.
"The suspect's arrest does not conclude the investigation as additional searching may take place at a later time," the statement said.
SWAT teams were sent to Blair International Baccalaureate School shortly before 9:30 a.m. after a student reported seeing someone walking on campus with a gun in his waistband.
As a precaution, all 1,200 students were confined to classrooms for hours as police searched the campus, formerly called Blair High School, "looking room by room, hallway by hallway, bush by bush," police Lt. Tom Pederson said.
Anxious parents waited outside for hours until their children began being released after 5 p.m.
Blair East, an adjoining middle school, also was locked down; those students were released at midafternoon. Officials did not search off the campus.
Students were individually searched, then taken in small groups to a gymnasium, walking with hands on their heads. Some parents watching from afar wondered why it was necessary or said they were frustrated by a lack of information.
"Nobody knows what's going on," said Tami Waters, mother of an eighth-grader at the middle school. "I think it's causing a lot more stress than necessary."
Pasadena is about 15 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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