A student fired gunshots Monday morning inside Plymouth Middle School, and no injuries were been reported, police said.
A school resource officer apprehended the student, who fired the shots in a hall outside a bathroom, police and the district superintendent said during a media briefing late Monday morning. A gun was recovered, police said.
A lockdown was in place until about noon at the school for sixth- through eighth-grade students, which is part of the Robbinsdale School District and located just west of Hwy. 169 at N. 10011 36th Av.
Police said they are not looking for any other suspects in connection with the gunfire, which was reported to authorities about 8:45 a.m., said Police Chief Erik Fadden. More than 700 students were in the school at the time.
Interim District Superintendent Stephanie Burrage said, “We had an unfortunate situation today. Anytime there is a gun in the school [that] puts our kids in jeopardy. … It’s not a fun day for anyone to manage a gun in a school.”
Burrage was asked whether the student said anything during the incident, and she replied, “We can’t share what was said.”
The superintendent said the district has been in contact with the student’s parents.
A staff member first encountered the student before the school resource officer stepped in and made the arrest, police said.
“Thank God there was a school resource officer there to de-escalate,” said Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson, whose office will have personnel on the campus to assist police.
The district directed families wishing to pick up students to go to the east parking lot of nearby Armstrong High School for reunification.
Small groups of students started leaving around noon and were provided bag lunches as they headed toward the high school.
Seventh-grader Lola Hodgson texted her mother, Nikia Slaughter, at 8:47 a.m. that the school was on lockdown and that several shots had been fired.
“We don’t entirely know what the hell is going on,” Hodgson texted her mother, who headed for the school.
“I was bawling,” Slaughter said from the high school’s parking lot, where a few hundred parents gathered, waiting to pick up their students. Many of them were wiping tears or bent over their phones, texting their children for updates.
Slaughter was joined by her mother, Karen Jetson. When they got the news from the school at 10 a.m. that there were no students hurt, they both said they felt overwhelming relief.
“My hands finally stopped shaking,” Slaughter said.
“This is the best outcome of the worst situation,” Jetson said.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
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