SANTA FE, Texas— Santa Fe High School was put on lockdown for nearly two hours Wednesday afternoon after reports of what sounded like gunshots were heard outside.
Several police units surrounded the campus as SWAT investigators surveyed the area surrounding the school.
Inside, students said it was a scene that has become all too familiar.
“We were sitting in class and we heard an announcement that said lockdown. This is not a drill. It was scary and with what happened in Florida it made this so much more real,” freshman Gary Winthorpe said.
Winthorpe said him and several other students barricaded the classroom doors with furniture, turned the lights off, flipped over their desks and hid behind them.
“I was really scared thinking about what happened in Florida because we were just sitting there and we didn’t know what was going to happen to us,” freshman Lila Ismail said.
“It was scary mostly because people were crying and upset and we didn’t know what was going to happen,” freshman Kaitlyn Elkins said.
“Some girl posted on social media about shooting then we heard gunshots and then the SWAT,” freshman Kalysta Dill said.
The lockdown was lifted after Santa Fe ISD said investigators found no threat to students and staff.
Parents were then instructed to pick up their kids from the campus.
“His mother was frantic. I mean frantic. So I had to drive her here,” Georgia Leyva, a family friend of a Santa Fe student said.
Leyva and many other parents said they’re fed up. They believe school should have been cancelled whenever the threats were made online to prevent this chaos.
“When is this stuff going to end? These are children, I mean children. Even if it’s just a threat why would someone do this? We have to start taking these threats seriously. We go from one state to another state, from one town to another town,” Leyva continued.
“You gotta take it seriously. They’ve got to get on top of this from these threats. They have to let these kids know that they can’t be doing this,” parent Chance Gardner said.
In a statement, Dr. Leigh Wall, Santa Fe ISD Superintendent said no one was hurt and “all necessary precautions were taken in an effort to provide safety for all students and staff, and the district’s crisis management plan was immediately initiated.”
The school has not confirmed whether the “popping” sound were actual gunshots, but reassures parents that there were no other concerns at any other campuses in the district.
Despite the all clear, some students said they don’t want to go back on campus after this.
“I’m not going to school tomorrow. I don’t know if someone else wants to do the same thing or something,” Winthorpe said.
The school district said they will not be addressing the social media threats at this time.
