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High school locked down, gun reported

January 31, 2013
Bonners Ferry High School went into lockdown this afternoon after a student reported that another student had a firearm on campus. That report proved false.

According to district superintendent Dick Conley, the lockdown was imposed as soon as the report was made, and both students and staff, having just undergone a lockdown drill on Wednesday, did superbly.

"In a situation like these, we have to think of safety first so the lockdown was imposed," he said. "It turns out that the report was false, the result of a bit of exaggeration, but the lockdown went flawlessly; students maintained their composure and went where they were supposed to, lights were turned out and doors were locked and everyone remained calm."

The call was placed at about 2 p.m., summoning police to the school and fire and ambulance crews on standby. By 2:15 p.m., city police office had enough information to release fire and ambulance personnel, though students remained on lockdown until 2:41 p.m. when the "all clear" was given.

According to Conley, the student who reported the firearm claimed to have seen the gun in another student's vehicle at lunch while riding around in a separate vehicle off campus; he reported seeing the firearm after returning from lunch.

"Everybody involved was questioned, vehicles and lockers were searched and we found the report was not credible," Conley said. "I think they were horsing around during lunch. The student who made the report said he saw the gun in passing and described it, the student who reportedly had the gun said the description matched a gun he owned, but he certainly didn't have it at school."
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