Police respond to reported firearm at Alanson Public School, no injuries reported
ALANSON — Students at Alanson Public Schools are being bused to the Alanson Fire Department to be reunited with families following an event at the school on Thursday morning.
Emmet County Undersheriff Matt Leirstein said law enforcement responded to a situation at the school where a young student around the age of 4 or 5 told a teacher they thought they saw an older student carrying a gun in their pocket.
The school reviewed the footage and narrowed down the students the child may have been talking with and conducted interviews with those students. The deputies on the scene contacted and interviewed the students and are "very confident there was no firearm," Leirstein said.
The police also assisted the school in a locker search afterwards. No firearms were found in the school.
The sheriff's department recommended the school close early so officers could conduct a more thorough search to ensure there are no weapons in the school.
"We're just being precautious and we just want to make sure that we've searched every inch of the school before we're able to say that we're confident that there was no weapon involved," he said.
The CCE Central Dispatch 911, serving Charlevoix, Cheboygan and Emmet counties, posted on Facebook saying the schools are being released and students that take busses will be sent home shortly. Families can pick up students from the fire station.
Families reuniting at the fire station described the fear and uncertainty they felt as they waited for news and direction from officials.
Alanson preschool teacher Whitney Rota was home with her sick child today but came to the fire station as soon as she heard the news.
With two other kids in the school, a fourth grader and eighth grader, she was terrified, Rota said.
“Knowing that my other two children were here, plus my students, (I was) terrified,” she said.
Rota said she didn’t hear about the incident from school officials, but from her assistant teacher.
Abby Blaskowski, who has children in the school, said she first heard about the incident because she is a director at the health center and they were alerted patients may be coming.
“One of my colleague's husband works for Emmet County, and she called me and was like, ‘Your preschooler’s in a shed in the playground,’” she said.
Blaskowski said the text notifying families came in an hour and a half after the original 911 call.
Both Rota and Blaskowski said they wish there had been more effective communication with families, so speculation on social media didn't take over.
“I think the text was amazing, but it should have went out sooner,” Rota said.
“The scanner page … the fact that they’re putting it on there and parents don’t know yet — you’re causing mass chaos,” Blaskowski added.
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First responders from the Michigan State Police, Cheboygan County Sheriff's Office, Tuscarora Police Department, Petoskey Department of Public Safety, Harbor Springs Police Department, Alanson Fire Department, Emmet County Emergency Medical Services, Michigan DNR and tribal police all responded to the scene.
"The response to this incident was overwhelming," Leirstein said. "We're very thankful for all of our law enforcement partner agencies for their assistance."
Thursday afternoon, Leirstein confirmed that the secondary search had concluded and no weapons were found on the premises.
Two K-9s that specialize in article searches were in Grayling for training and were able to make it to the scene to assist officers in the search.
"We are clearing the scene and it appears the report of a firearm may have been mistakenly made and it may have been something else," Leirstein said.
Previously, Leirstein said it was suspected the young student may have seen a cell phone or similar item in the older student's back pocket and thought that may have been a gun.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Police respond to reported firearm at Alanson Public School
