A Detroit high school security guard "prevented a tragic situation" Thursday morning when he disarmed a student after noticing a bulge in the waistband of his pants.
The 16-year-old student was arriving at Eastpointe High School when the security guard noted a bulge in the teen's pants and attempted to wave a metal-detecting wand over him, according to Fox2. The student resisted, resulting in a struggle, according to police.
The guard was able to confiscate the weapon, which was loaded and stolen from a local resident who hadn't realized it was gone, C&G News reported. A school lockdown was initiated, but concluded within 30 minutes as no further threat was identified.
Eastpointe Community Schools Superintendent Christina Gibson shared a statement in praise of the response:
"We are incredibly grateful for the quick and professional response of our security staff, school resource officer, and EHS administration, as well as for the knowledge that our upgraded entry procedures are working as designed to keep prohibited items out of Eastpointe High School," Gibson said. "Ideally, students would never attempt to bring prohibited items to school, but the system worked exactly as designed this morning to keep our EHS students and staff safe."
The school's security was heightened for the 24/25 school year, including an increase to the number of contracted unarmed security guards present at the school.
Eastpointe Police Detective Lt. Alexander Holish commended the security team "for showing the heroism and willingness to potentially sacrifice their own safety by disarming an armed suspect who had a fully loaded handgun on his person."
"At this point, we don't know why he had a gun," Holish continued. "Maybe he was just showing off to his friends and trying to look cool, or maybe he had intent to commit a heinous crime. At this point, we just don't know — it's still fresh. But we're investigating it."
The student is being held under arrest at Macomb Juvenile Justice Center.
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