Friday, March 29, 2024

Bathroom break by off-duty officer/parade helper spurs gun scare at GHS

Posted

A trip to the men’s room for an off-duty police officer Monday evening resulted in a “soft lockdown” at Granbury High School, and deputies, police officers and DPS troopers rushing to the school in response to a report of an armed individual.

The incident happened after school hours, and only a small number of students were inside the building.

According to GISD Public Information Officer Lissa Oliver, no one involved did anything wrong.

The bathroom break happened after the officer arrived at the school with a trailer to be used in the Homecoming Parade.

A teacher in the Fine Arts Department let the officer into the building because the officer was a parade volunteer who was going to drive a float, Oliver stated.

During normal school hours, visitors can access school buildings only by being buzzed through a main entrance by an office staffer. Teachers are not allowed to let anyone into school buildings.

In this case, however, the visitor arrived after school hours and was a volunteer known to the teacher who let him in.

When the officer walked down a hallway to a restroom, his gun was spotted by another teacher who did not know who he was or that he had been let into the building by another teacher, Oliver said.

The teacher who notified authorities did exactly what she had been trained to do, the PIO noted.

The incident was over within minutes.

Once it was determined that no threat existed, the Granbury Police Department and the Hood County Sheriff’s Office quickly posted messages on social media to calm fears.

Oliver said that she did not immediately issue a statement because she was busy working with students who were participating in the parade and did not have enough information at the time about what had transpired.

A message posted at 6:46 p.m. Monday on the GPD’s Facebook page told the public, “At NO TIME was there ever an active shooter at the high school.”

A communication about the incident was posted on the SO’s Facebook page just two minutes later.

According to that post, deputies were alerted at about 5:50 p.m. and arrived at the campus within three minutes, along with Granbury police and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Law enforcement viewed video and were able to determine that there was no “active threat,” the post on the sheriff’s Facebook page detailed.

“Shortly after clearing, we observed untrue information being shared on social media, such as gun shots had occurred,” the post continued. “Nobody was injured, harmed or threatened at any time during this incident.”

A message from school administrators that was emailed to parents on Tuesday praised the quick responses of school staff, school marshals and law enforcement.

“GISD is reviewing communication procedures to include parent notification in the event of a campus lockdown, even if the lockdown occurs beyond the regular school day,” the email said.

Oliver said that the school district will be “learning from (the incident) and reassessing.”

“Our first priority is to get the law enforcement there, and that is what happened,” she said.

Had the incident escalated, the school district would have communicated further with families through SchoolMessenger email or phone calls, district website onscreen alerts and/or district social media post, the email from GISD stated.

Those with students in the school district who have not signed up to receive alerts can do so at www.remind.com/join/kfb83b.