Gun on Detroit High School Ball Field Prompts Lockdown

Wylie Grove High School students did not expect to hear a “lockdown” announcement over the Public Address system yesterday morning. At 10:45 am the school quickly secured its perimeter, bringing all students inside and locking all entrances to the building. The action was in response to a police notification that a “despondent” person on the baseball field may have been armed.

Wylie Grove locked its perimeter for 40 minutes until the situation was resolved. One student texted the Detroit Free Press from inside the building “it was a scary experience” as it was his “first time in a real lockdown. The school has done well to prepare us.”

Numerous suicide or attempted suicide incidents are reported each year on school campuses in the United States. Although not the typical anticipated active shooter situation, a gun on a school campus is a gun on a school campus. Even if an assailant has no intention of hurting anyone but him or herself, schools must react quickly and decisively to the threat. As Wylie Grove learned yesterday morning, there is no room for error when a gun is anywhere near a school building.