“A student reporting a man with what appeared to be a rifle Wednesday morning outside Carter Middle School in Clio led officials to place the building on lockdown,” mlive.com reports. “School officials placed a call to Genesee County 911 and multiple jurisdictions responded to the area, according to a statement by middle school principal Neil Bedell.” And they’re not apologizing, either . . .
“Since we always err to the side of caution, we immediately went into a lockdown,” said Bedell, adding police found the person on a street north of the middle school and determined he was not a threat . . .
The school was taken off lockdown a short time later. Bedell commended students and staff for their “appropriate response” to the lockdown, given it was during one of the building’s lunch periods . . .
“Student safety is our number one priority,” he said. “We will always take such matters seriously and take all appropriate necessary measures to keep our children safe.”
Yes, well, the man in question was carrying a walking stick.
How he was carrying his walking stick is an open question. Was he shouldering it? Aiming it at the school like a rifle? I kinda doubt it.
Regardless, the local cops weren’t too happy about having their lunch hour interrupted by the prospect of a school shooter.
Bedell noted the man was advised by police of what the student “perceived” and was asked not to walk “in such close proximity of the building during school hours.”
Maybe they should run a firearms identification class at the school. Just sayin’ . . .