Police arrested a suspended 16-year-old student near Chamblee Charter High School on Tuesday after another student reported the suspect was trying to sell guns on campus.
The boy was carrying two loaded handguns when he was arrested shortly before school was dismissed, and several “long guns” were found in duffel bags near the school’s football stadium, police said.
No shots were fired, and the boy didn’t appear to have any intention of harming anyone at the school, said R. Marc Johnson, Chamblee’s city manager. He said the boy had stolen the guns from a house.
A student told the school’s resource officer the teenager had approached him and said, “‘I have some guns. Do you know where I can sell them?’” said Johnson, who previously served as police chief. “So he didn’t make a threat against the school.”
The student’s report set off an alarm as the school went into lockdown and police swarmed the area, looking for an armed teenager.
DeKalb County Superintendent Michael Thurmond praised the student who informed the school resource officer about the guns.
“We’re all so very proud of him doing the right thing at the right time and possibly averting a major tragedy,” Thurmond said. “Because this student came forward with this information, those illegal weapons are now confiscated and the person who was in possession of the weapons is in custody.”
Police from Doraville, Dunwoody and Georgia Tech showed up, some wearing tactical gear and bringing bomb-sniffing dogs.
Chamblee Charter High students stayed inside their classrooms and listened to announcements over the intercom saying the school was on lockdown, said Jaelyn Willis, a freshman.
“It was pretty scary because we didn’t know where the person was for a good amount of the time. So she or he could have been in the building,” she said.
Zaina Hubbard, a sophomore at the school, said the experience of being locked down was nerve-racking.
“Some of the students were not too worried because they kind of took it as a joke. Other students were more serious about it,” she said. “I was a little nervous because I know how school shootings usually end.”
April Ortiz, the mother of a student whose first day at Chamblee High was Tuesday, rushed to the school to make sure her son was safe.
“We thought it would be a little better than right in Atlanta, but where can your kids be safe? You don’t know,” Ortiz told WSB Radio.
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