Mount Tahoma High School cleared, locked down after student reported seen with firearm
Mount Tahoma High School went into lockdown Wednesday after a student was reportedly seen with a firearm inside a bathroom. Tacoma police said officers cleared the school and found no firearms.
Tacoma Police Department said in tweet that a fire alarm also was pulled at the school. Police said there were no reports of anyone injured or shots being fired.
No one directly saw a student with a firearm, according to police and school officials. Police spokesperson Wendy Haddow said dispatchers received multiple reports at about 12:18 p.m. regarding a student with a gun. One student heard from another that they had seen a student with a gun, then reported this to the school’s office.
A total of 18 officers, including some from Lakewood Police Department, responded to the school. Haddow said students were locked in classrooms while officers searched the property.
“The school and the students did it just like they trained to,” Haddow said. “There’s no substantiated threat right now, but that doesn’t matter, they heard something, they said something, they followed the emergency preparedness drills and the school is cleared.”
Tacoma Public Schools spokesperson Kathryn McCarthy said after the fire alarm was pulled, the school was able to disable it and keep kids inside to maintain the lockdown while Tacoma Fire Department responded. Crews did not find any fire in the school.
McCarthy said classes would continue in a modified lockdown through the rest of the day. She said some students left with their families. She said the school will continue to investigate and is working with police to try to determine who the student was who reportedly had a firearm.
This story was originally published September 28, 2022 at 1:11 PM.
