Two people were arrested Thursday morning after police received reports of an armed student on a Denver high school campus, prompting the school to be placed on lockdown.
Police later identified the weapon as a paintball gun. No one was reported injured.
The threat at Northfield High School, which came two days after 19 students and two teachers were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, prompted authorities to place the school’s nearly 2,000 students and staff on campus on lockdown.
More than 30 police cars were parked outside the school, at 5500 Central Park Blvd., Thursday morning and parents streamed to the area to pick up their kids. Police arrived after a student notified a campus security officer about “something suspicious” and the security officer then called Denver police, Police Chief Paul Pazen said at a news conference.
Superintendent Alex Marrero called Thursday’s incident a “foolish act.”
“In one touch of a button, we were able to secure this campus,” Marrero said. Police arrived three minutes later, he added. “Happy it was not a real situation, but if there was a drill, this was the drill to have.”
Details on the potential charges were not immediately available. A police spokesman said the two suspects were juveniles, declining to release additional information.
Police said officers were investigating a report of “a suspicious occurrence,” in a tweet shortly before 10:30 a.m.
“We are all hoping it is a false alarm, but we definitely understand how terribly scary and anxiety-provoking it is, especially given recent events in Texas,” a post on Northfield High School’s Facebook page read.
The school later sent students and staff home for the day after the lockdown was lifted.