Student tip leads to weapon discovery, lockdown at Broward middle school

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LAUDERHILL, Fla. — Police and a middle school principal are giving differing accounts over what led to a lockdown on a Broward campus Monday.

Officials with the district said that the lockdown at Parkway Middle School, located at 3600 NW Fifth Court in Lauderhill, was the result of a weapon on campus.

Weapon found on middle school campus, district says

Police said it appears to be the result of an accidental activation of a safety alert.

Some of the confusion can possibly be blamed on the type of weapon. Students told Local 10 News that it involved a BB gun.

Some students initially thought it was a drill.

“It was on lockdown for like the whole first period,” one student said.

But the seriousness of the situation became evident as the day went on.

Broward County Public Schools confirmed that a tip from a student and parent led to a potentially dangerous discovery.

Ackimo Charles, who is listed as “intern principal” of elementary and 8th grade on the school website, said in a message to parents, in part, “We received information from a student and parent about a possible weapon on campus. We immediately placed our school on Lockdown and notified our School Resource Officer and security team, who safely handled the situation and confiscated the weapon.”

“He told me he was going to bring it to school, but I told him not to do it, but he still went ahead,” another student said. “And one of my other friends told him not to do it.”

After police got involved, the lockdown was lifted and school operations continued as normal.

Charles praised the student and parent who actually stepped in to say something, saying that the idea of “see something, say something” worked in this particular situation.

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About The Author
Terrell Forney

Terrell Forney

Terrell Forney joined Local 10 News in October 2005 as a general assignment reporter. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, but a desire to escape the harsh winters of the north brought him to South Florida.