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Public Safety

Oceanside Middle School Lifts Lockdown After Weapon Search Completed

Policemen standing outside Jefferson Middle School in Oceanside, CA during a lockdown on Monday, Dec. 14, 2009. The school decided to put classrooms on lockdown after a student reported hearing about a weapon in the girls' bathroom.
Alison St John
Policemen standing outside Jefferson Middle School in Oceanside, CA during a lockdown on Monday, Dec. 14, 2009. The school decided to put classrooms on lockdown after a student reported hearing about a weapon in the girls' bathroom.
Oceanside Middle School Lifts Lockdown After Weapon Search Completed
Jefferson Middle School in Oceanside went into lockdown for several hours today.

Jefferson Middle School in Oceanside went into lockdown for several hours today.

School staff decided to put classrooms on lockdown shortly before 11 a.m. after a girl reported she heard other students in the girls’ bathroom speaking about a weapon.

School spokesman Steve Lombard did his best to reassure anxious parents who were kept waiting outside the school as police conducted a thorough search of the campus.

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“We want to make sure all your kids are absolutely safe, so they are in classrooms,” he said. “I know it’s inconvenient, but right now, they want to make sure everything is safe on campus.”

Lombard said the school simply followed procedures after the witness who reported the incident was deemed credible.

He said the school has a zero-tolerance policy for weapons, and in his three years of experience at Jefferson Middle School, a gun has never been found on campus.

Police reported more than a thousand students between the ages of 11 and 14 were on campus at the time. They were released classroom by classroom after being searched.

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