"Everyone put your hands up!” SWAT team members entering a classroom are heard to say on a student’s cell phone video.
"Everyone put your hands up!" one member repeats.
Students are used to raising their hands, but they just might prefer doing it while answering to a teacher and not to not police.
“I saw my teacher’s face and we knew it wasn't a joke,” said student Chris Walton. “She put a table in front of the door."
Glen Allen High School went on lockdown Tuesday just after noon after Henrico Police called in every available resource because of a report of a "possible gunman on campus."
"We heard cops but weren't allowed to look out the windows," Walton said.
Police sources tell CBS-6 a male sophomore was distraught and threatening to kill himself in front of his girlfriend. Police have confirmed some of that information.
School administrators and police were made aware of a male student who was distraught and may possibly have a weapon,” Henrico Police spokesman Lt. Linda Toney said. “The school was placed on lock down as a precaution.”
When the student was taken into custody, he was not on school property.
“Police do not have any evidence that suggests the student was ever on the campus of Glen Allen High School,” Toney said.
Police searched the high school room by room and also went through neighboring communities.
Leslie Shaufelberger believes the upset teenager’s girlfriend lives next door to her. “I saw them surround the house next door,” she said. “They discussed something, knocked on the door, and left."
Minutes later police arrived in another neighborhood about three-and-a-half miles from the school. Connor Johnson witnessed police taking a teenage boy into custody.
"They walked out with the kid in handcuffs," Johnson said.
In all, the search lasted two-and-a-half hours. Students stayed put in their classrooms as parents gathered outside the school and in a nearby shopping center, anxiously waiting for the lockdown to be lifted.
"I panicked because you hear of this crazy stuff all the time," said parent Rupert Stewart.
"Something like this happening here is a huge concern,” said Dean Hoffman, whose son is a freshman at the school. “We want what's best for our kids."
HOW WAS THE EVENT HANDLED? Read more on officials and parent's response to lockdown at high school.
