'Suspicious' Student Prompts High School Lockdown

A "suspicious" male who was an unfamiliar face to at least one employee prompted a lockdown at the school Tuesday morning shortly after 9.  

"One of our high school personnel saw a student they thought was suspicious, or acting suspicious," Hatboro-Horsham School District Superintendent Curtis Griffin told Patch. Initially, the employee wasn't sure if the male in question even attended the high school. "It's typical for our staff to know a lot of the students."

The employee immediately contacted High School Principal Dennis Williams and Williams placed the school under an emergency lockdown from about 9:05 a.m. until about 9:40 a.m. The responded to the school and conducted an "extensive building wide search," according to a communication that Williams distributed to parents shortly after the lockdown.  

No one was injured and students were never in danger, Williams shared in the communication. 

"At the end of the day, it was nothing," Griffin said, adding that the student did not possess any weapons. 

In addition to the police search during the lockdown, Griffin said staff used video surveillance cameras to help identify the student and determine that his suspicious actions did not result in any harm. The student had apparently left the building just before the lockdown, Griffin said. 

Griffin touted communication protocols in place as helping to create a safe environment for all of the district's staff and students. 

"Those things all worked," Griffin said. "We know what we're supposed to do."

Griffin said staff will have a "debriefing" to analyze the events, as well as their handling, to "get better in the process."

"We are extremely proud of our students, faculty and staff for
how they responded with such a task," Williams said in his communication to parents. "Our drill and practice for situations like this are an important part of why the lockdown and subsequently the search worked so seamlessly."