MANSFIELD — A student with a pellet gun forced Mansfield Senior High School into a lockdown Tuesday morning, according to Mansfield Police Chief Ken Coontz.
School officials confirmed the information, although they termed the item an airsoft gun while Coontz called it a BB gun. Later police determined the weapon to be a Crossman 357 point 1.77 pellet gun.
“It looks very realistic,” Coontz said. “Air soft uses plastic BBs, this is a pellet gun.”
Classes resumed shortly after 8 a.m. but dozens of parents who arrived to take their children home were allowed to do so after showing proper identification.
“A boy is in police custody after he was found to have an airsoft gun in his possession outside Mansfield Senior High School before the start of school Tuesday morning,” school spokesman Larry Gibbs said. “The gun was never inside the school.
“The boy, who had reportedly made threats against another student, ran and discarded the gun when he saw law enforcement officers. Police apprehended the boy and recovered the gun.”
The high school remained on lockdown at 9 a.m. and Mansfield superintendent Brian Garverick was on the scene with the Mansfield Police Department.
“All is good now,” Coontz said. “There was no threat to any students or staff at the school. Officers and detectives are interviewing the student at this time.”
Coontz said there was no active threat in the school.
“I’m just trying to say parents and family members should not worry,” Coontz said.
