‘We did recover a live firearm’: Southern California school put on lockdown

Panicked parents rushed to a high school in San Bernardino County Tuesday after the campus was put on lockdown in response to a student that had a loaded firearm.

Administrators at Oak Hill High School, a part of Hesperia Unified School District, said they were notified about a student who was possibly armed with a gun around 11:30 a.m.

“All I heard was ‘code red, code red,’” freshman Deano Morales told KTLA’s Shelby Nelson. “Everyone thought it was just a drill.”

Students said their teachers began locking the doors and ordering everyone to get to the back of the classroom.

Freshman Xavier Ramos says he learned what was happening from a friend.

“Two people were in class, and one of them showed my friend his gun,” he said. “When he did, they got escorted by the police outside and they ran.”

Footage of the incident, now widely shared among parents and students, shows a brief chase as a district police officer runs after the student, who was eventually apprehended.

According to Steve Hinojos, HUSD Chief of School Police, when the officer confronted the student, the teen reached for the gun and the officer put him in a bearhug so that he couldn’t reach the firearm. That’s when the short chase ensued, with the student tossing the gun to the side.

“We did actually recover a live firearm from a student,” HUSD Superintendent David Olney told KTLA. “There were no shots fired.”

The superintendent added that officials will be investigating why the student, who is now in custody, brought the handgun to school in the first place.

As for the protocol, officials said that it was followed successfully.

“Code red is for everybody to go into lockdown, all staff to go into a locked classroom or cafeteria or wherever they’re at. Lockdown, lights go off, phones go off and they stay silent,” Hinojos said.

However, the ordeal created a lot of confusion, especially as students texted their parents about what was happening, causing a rush of terrified family members on the school campus, many of them fearing the worst was happening.

“It was literally like every parent just trying to get into this little door all at once,” a parent told KTLA.

Xavier’s mother, Cynthia Ramos, was unable to hide her emotion as she recalled hearing about the news.

“It’s like a text you never want to get in your life,” she said, holding back tears. “Being so far, like 20 minutes away, to me that seemed like an eternity. I honestly don’t even know how I got here.”

Superintendent Olney, who acknowledged the dark reality of having to practice and prepare for incidents like this, told KTLA that everyone involved in handling the scare did an amazing job.

“They did exactly what they were trained to do,” he said.

According to school police, the student, who has been booked into juvenile detention center in the high desert area, will likely face charges of bringing a loaded firearm to a school campus.

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