The quiet of a typical school day was shattered when a 13-year-old student at Lowe’s Grove Middle School was discovered with a loaded gun on campus, prompting a swift lockdown yesterday afternoon. The School Resource Officer (SRO) responded to an altercation occurring around 12:30 p.m., where allegations surfaced of a student possessing a firearm; this claim escalated into a full-blown security response, with multiple units from the Sheriff’s Office and Durham Police hastening to the scene, according to ABC11.
The lockdown was initiated after teachers reported suspicions of a weapon on campus, as detailed by WRAL, which also revealed aerial footage of anxious parents and their vehicles snaking their way around the school, echoing the tense atmosphere within, as per student eyewitnesses, the incident sparked a large commotion in the hallway around lunchtime before the lockdown was enforced. The SRO managed to separate the involved students and during a search, found the weapon in possession of the young teenager.
Authorities, including Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead, recognized the gravity of the situation, as zeroing in on the confrontation potentially headed off a larger crisis. “A potential tragedy was averted today due to the quick actions of the Lowe’s Grove SRO, who intervened during an escalating confrontation between students,” Birkhead stated in remarks obtained by CBS17. The official narrative commended the resource officer’s immediate control of the situation and the subsequent discovery of the loaded weapon on the student…