Lexington’s Henry Clay High School goes on lockdown, student with loaded gun arrested

Henry Clay High School was placed on lockdown Thursday morning and a 15-year-old student has been arrested and charged with having a weapon on school property, according to Fayette County Public Schools spokesperson Lisa Deffendall.

District officials don’t think the student intended to use the loaded gun. The school has a metal detector that all students go through each morning, a process in which student bags are searched and other layers of preventing weapons from getting into the school, Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said.

“We are still investigating how the weapon made its way into the building. We do not know how the student entered the school or how the gun made it into the school,” Liggins said.

He said improvements will be made if there are holes in the system.

A student reported the possibility that there was a gun on campus.

Due to the good relationship between school police and students and administrators, “we have possibly avoided a potential emergency,” Liggins said.

Officials responded immediately, he said.

Henry Clay principal Paul Little said the campus continues to be safe, that Friday will be a regular school day and that a team of counselors will be on campus Friday to help students and staff “process” the incident.

No one was injured, Deffendall said. She said it was part of normal procedure to lock down the campus to ensure the safety of students and staff while a possible threat is investigated.

Fayette schools police chief Martin Schafer said at an afternoon news conference that during the first hour period, officials were given a tip that a student may have a gun on campus. The school was placed on lockdown at 9:18 a.m.

Police found the student and confiscated the loaded gun which was found in a bag, he said.

Schaefer said there was no credible evidence that threats were made against students or staff.

“The situation is still being investigated by our school administration, Fayette County Public Schools Police, and the Lexington Police Department,” Deffendall said.

The school lockdown was lifted just after 11 a.m.

Students were seen leaving the school just before 11:30 a.m. Police were still on scene at the time. School officials told parents they could check their children out. Liggins said classes were not canceled Thursday.

The Lexington Traffic Management Center said the block of Fontaine Road that Henry Clay High School sits on — between Dinsmore Drive and Lakeshore Drive — was briefly closed. It reopened but there were still traffic delays in the area for awhile afterward.