DELPHOS — A Delphos pupil is in police custody after brandishing a BB gun in the classroom and later fleeing the Franklin Elementary building.
The Delphos Police Department was notified and took the youth and the BB gun into custody.
”We have Delphos City School and Westwood counselors on site meeting with any student or staff member in need of emotional support,” superintendent Douglas Westrick wrote in a letter to parents. “Parents of students in the classroom have been notified or are in the process of being contacted.”
The district buildings all went into lockdown during the incident. The lockdown has since been lifted.
”The safety of our students and staff remains our top priority,” Westrick wrote. “Our buildings are safe for students and staff to carry out their day. I would like to thank our administration, staff, and students for their ability to quickly go into lockdown mode. That’s a testament to our training program.”
Delphos police alerted Delphos St. John’s at 8:50 a.m. Friday that it was instituting its lockdown policy based on the incident. That lockdown was cleared at approximately 9 a.m., according to Adam Lee, the junior high and high school principal at Delphos St. John’s.
“We appreciate the thorough and efficient work of our City of Delphos Police Department in regard to keeping our students and staff as safe as possible,” Lee wrote in an announcement sent out to families. “We want to assure all parents and families that we immediately followed their initiation and release of this lockdown and were prepared and ready to execute our plan and take any additional necessary steps.”
Officers arrived at Franklin Elementary School before 9 a.m. Friday morning, and it was already in lockdown. Officers were met by the principal who stated that the juvenile student had left the building and did not know which way he went. Officers were given the name of the student and a clothing description.
At this time, as a precaution, all Delphos City and Delphos St. John’s schools were put on lockdown by the Delphos Police Department, due to the fact that officers did not know where the juvenile was or which direction he was headed.
Officers began a search of the area. At 8:53 a.m., the juvenile was located walking westbound in the 100 block of West 5th St., where he was taken into custody and transported to the Delphos Police Department.
The juvenile told officers that the gun was a BB gun and that he had thrown it behind a business while walking, and it was later located.
Once the juvenile was in custody and the BB gun recovered, all city schools were taken off of the lockdown.
The juvenile was transported to the Allen County Juvenile Detention Center pending review of charges by the Allen County Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office.
The juvenile’s name is not being released until he is formally charged.
