C.H.A.T. on lockdown after gun incident
Published 12:00 am Sunday, April 20, 2008
The Selma Times-Journal
A C.H.A.T. Academy student is in police custody after bringing a gun to school, prompting a campus lockdown while administrators and the school&8217;s security conducted a search of students&8217; backpacks and lockers.
A 15-year-old male was taken into custody Friday morning and was scheduled to appear before District Court Judge Bob Armstrong later that day, according to Selma police spokesman Lt. David Evans.
Armstrong said he could not discuss the case as of Friday afternoon, due to the nature of the situation.
C.H.A.T. seventh grade principal Roosevelt Wilson said he had no comment in regard to the student, or what the school plans to do next.
Wilson did say that the lockdowns happen typically one or two times per month as a precautionary measure.
Students remained in their classrooms during the lockdown, and no one was permitted to come into the school.
The lockdown lasted through the morning and was lifted in the early afternoon. Parents were not allowed into the school, and had to wait before students could be released.
Herbert Allen arrived at C.H.A.T. to pick up his daughter, an eighth-grade student. He waited outside until the search was complete, and was not sure what the extent of the situation was.
Allen said he wasn&8217;t entirely surprised, however.
Tammy Maul, parent of an eighth-grade student as well, was apprehensive, based on things she said her daughter had told her earlier. Maul supported the lockdown.
Per Alabama school disciplinary policy, possession of a gun on school grounds results in a one-year expulsion. Other schools will have to be notified of the student&8217;s previous record. The student is to be suspended until an investigation of the matter is complete and hearing conducted to discuss the findings and the disciplinary action taken.