HENRICO, VA (WWBT) -
Henrico Police have taken a juvenile into custody after Glen Allen High School was put on lockdown for reports of a possibly armed distraught student.
Police also blocked off access to a neighborhood on Old Springfield Road and Argonne Court while they did their investigation into the 16-year-old student in custody. But police are not confirming if the incident in the neighborhood is related to what happened at the high school.
Officials put the campus on lockdown around 12:15 p.m. as a precaution, though they say the possibly distraught student was never spotted at the school. Officers will only say he was upset over a relationship with another person but say they believe other students were not threatened.
"We were concerned about his safety and maybe others so we took precautions to make sure he was not on the school property," says Lt. Linda Toney with Henrico Police.
Dozens of police cars responded to the school, including the county's SWAT unit and some federal investigators. Officers blocked off the entrance to the school during the lockdown.
"I was nauseated," said Justin Toomy. His daughter is a junior at Glen Allen and he waited outside the school for her. He shared their texts with NBC12.
She wrote, "Cops surrounding the school with shotguns." He told her to keep him posted. She wrote back, "They're in the school. The SWAT team is here."
School leaders say they tried to get information out as quickly as possible.
"It is sometimes a time consuming process to verify information, make sure it's reliable before it's disseminated to the entire school community," says HCPS spokesperson Andy Jenks.
The lockdown was lifted shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday. Dismissal occurred on a regular school schedule.
The teen was taken into custody outside of campus.
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