Five schools were placed on lockdown Thursday morning in Sarasota County after the school district received a report that a high school student had a gun on a bus.
The following message was sent to the schools listed below about the current lockdown at their schools:
Hello, this is a message from the Sarasota County School District. This morning we received a report that a high school student had a gun on a bus and did not remain on campus. All students are safe and in an abundance of caution we have locked down Riverview and Suncoast Polytechnical high schools, Suncoast Technical College and Phillippi and Wilkinson elementary schools. Students are in locked classrooms and learning is continuing.
We are working closely with the Sheriff’s Office and will update you as the situation changes. Please do not attempt to come to your child’s school during the lockdown, as no one is currently permitted to enter or exit the campuses.
Again, all students are safe and we will keep you posted.
Around 12 p.m. on Thursday, Sarasota County Deputies announced that they located the student in question and detectives are interviewing him at this time.
UPDATE to Riverview incident: Deputies have LOCATED the student in question and detectives are interviewing him at this time.
— SarasotaSheriff (@SarasotaSheriff) October 19, 2017
The following message was sent to the schools about the lockdown being lifted around 12 p.m.:
Hello, this is a message from the Sarasota County School District. The Sheriff’s Office has located the high school student who reportedly had a gun on a bus this morning. The student is currently being interviewed by the Sheriff’s Office. All lockdowns have been lifted and normal activity has resumed on the affected campuses.
We’d like to thank the students, staff, and parents and guardians of students for cooperating during the lockdown: Riverview and Suncoast Polytechnical high schools, Suncoast Technical College, Phillippi and Wilkinson elementary schools and Suncoast School of Innovative Studies middle school campus on Wilkinson Road.
A special thank you to the students who did the right thing and reported what they saw on the bus.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Mary Stringini is a reporter for ABC Action News. Follow her on Twitter @MaryWFTS.
