CHARLOTTE — A knife was found on a student after a fight in the parking lot at West Mecklenburg High School on Wednesday, police said.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg officials told Channel 9 at 1:30 p.m. that the school was placed on lockdown.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police told Channel 9 that a “large fight” at the high school just before 1 p.m. was what prompted the lockdown. A knife was found on one student and another was thought to be armed with a gun, according to sources.
The source said the student thought to have had a gun left the school and no gun was ever found.
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Channel 9 was at West Meck and saw several police officers around the school and one guarding the door.
“Right now, I’m just a little nervous, waiting for my son to come out,” said Anne Fleming, whose child is a sophomore at the school.
Fleming’s son told her someone at school may have a gun.
“My son had already called me and said something about a student with a gun on campus,” she said. “There’s a lot going on in these schools, too many babies with guns.”
CMS officials told Channel 9 at 2:30 p.m. the lockdown had been lifted and the school was in dismissal. Police remained at the scene to investigate the cause of the fight and determine was involved.
“They can’t go to the mall,” Fleming said. “They can’t go to the schools. They can’t go nowhere. I think it’s the social media because when we were growing up, we didn’t have none of this.”
Fleming said she has second thoughts about her son attending school at West Meck.
“If it was up to me, I would have kept him home. There’s too much going on. You got to stay prayed up,” she said.
Below is the full message CMS sent to families:
“This is principal Bundrick with an important message. Today, we placed the school on lockdown due to fights and rumors of a gun on campus. The safety and security of our students and staff are of paramount importance and today’s actions were necessary to ensure that safety. No gun was found during a search by law enforcement. This behavior is not appropriate and will not be tolerated. Any students found to be involved in today’s incidents will be disciplined in accordance to the CMS Code of Student Conduct.”
(WATCH BELOW: Hopewell HS lifts lockdown after reports of person spotted near campus with weapon)
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