Charges filed after Airsoft gun leads to lockdown at Middle Creek High in Cary

Cary Police have filed charges against a student for having an Airsoft gun on campus that led to Middle Creek High School being put on a lockdown Thursday morning.

In a news release, Cary Police said juvenile petitions are being filed against a Middle Creek High student for possession of a weapon on a school campus. The student will also face disciplinary action from the Wake County school system for bringing the Airsoft gun, which is a type of BB gun.

The name of the student isn’t being released because the student is a juvenile.

The school sent out a notice on its website at 10 a.m. that it was going on a Code Red lockdown due to a “potential threat.” The lockdown was lifted later Thursday morning, but not before it led to a long line of terrified parents showing up on campus trying to take their students home.

Police searched school

The school said that a student reported to administration that they witnessed another student in possession of a firearm in a school bathroom.

During the investigation, Cary Police said school administrators and law enforcement identified four students as possibly involved. These students were located and brought to the front office and searched. No weapon was found in their possession.

In speaking with them, an additional student was identified and located. As that student was being removed from the classroom, Cary Police said the student was seen by others attempting to hide something in a sweatshirt.

Students alerted the teacher that something was hidden. The sweatshirt was turned over to police and school administrators, who found the Airsoft gun inside.

The lockdown was lifted after Cary Police conducted a detailed search of the campus. Additional police officers will be on campus on Friday.

Holly Morin, the mother of a Middle Creek freshman, said it was very scary when she got an alert from the school. Morin wound up taking both her son and her daughter, who attends a middle school near Middle Creek, home early.

False reports about active shooter

Cary Police Public Information Officer Kenric Alexander told ABC11, the News & Observer’s news media partner, that the situation led to false reports about an active shooter on campus. He said police are looking into what sparked the reports and why the report came in the first place.

“Naturally, other students in the school are going to start texting their friends and their parents and then that’s going to spread further chaos and confusion, when you have parents responding here looking for answers, trying to get their kid out. But in a Code Red situation we can’t release kids — which is for the safety of everyone. So that’s what transpired here,” Alexander said.

Schools in Wake County and across the nation have gone under multiple lockdowns this school year due to threats.