Oklahoma City School On Fourth Day Of Lockdown

I have never heard of such a thing happening before – a school being on a lockdown for several days due to a student bringing a gun to school. Well, apparently, this is the reason for the four-day lockdown at U.S. Grant High School in Oklahoma City. The Tulsa World has this story:

U.S. Grant High School entered a fourth consecutive day of lockdown on Friday following the arrest of a student for bringing gun to school.

Freshman Hodauri Latifu McCoy Jr., 14, was arrested Monday on a felony complaint of carrying a firearm in school, located in southwest Oklahoma City.

No one was hurt, but McCoy is accused of pointing a loaded gun at one student and threatening others, according to a police report. Officials said they don’t believe the incident was gang related.

Meanwhile, some national experts said it’s unusual for a campus to remain on lockdown status for four days.

Peter Blauvelt, president of the nonprofit National Alliance for Safe Schools, said he has not heard of a school lockdown lasting so long.

“A lockdown should only last until the threat is abated. It seems to me that the threat has been relieved: The individual has been arrested, the gun is out of the school, the kid is out of the school,” Blauvelt said.

Peter Pochowski, the leader of another nonprofit school safety organization, said a multiday lockdown is unusual but not unheard of.

Now I have nothing against the situation. In fact, I think that what they are doing is to carry out the investigation to make sure that no situation may arise in the near future. Although the most pressing threat has come and gone, there might be loose ends that the authorities need to look into.

I like what Blauvelt said additionally, though. He noted that the authorities should make it clear why the lockdown has been going on for so long. Transparency is indeed needed in situations like these. Everyone involved – parents and students – should clearly understand what is going on. If they do not know the reason for the extended lockdown, they might lose confidence in the authorities’ capability to neutralize threats. What if they were hiding something of import? What if they are not sharing information because of this? Would it be safe to go back to school?

How about you, why do you think the lockdown is still ongoing?

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2 Responses to “Oklahoma City School On Fourth Day Of Lockdown”

  1. There was a student shot and killed at Grant High School in about 1975. The student’s name was Randy, and he was shot by another student named James Brooks. This was during the period of integration. That fact may explain if Grant H.S. was overcautious in response to a gun on campus. I was a counselor at the school the year before the event.

  2. I am “Randy’s” Aunt. He was shoot at U S Grant H.S. during an Integration Riot. The person who shoot him was NOT A STUDENT. He was an instigator of the riot. The administration did nothing to protect their students. Afterwards, we found out that the principal and administration did nothing to protect them and were not responsible for my nephews death in 1975.
    I just wonder if the Judge who made the decision to forcibly integrate the Oklahoma City Schools ever realized that his ruling killed a wonderful young man who was doing well academically and was a star football player. He had big plans of going to college. He was the only SON his parents had. His violent death changed our family from that day on. I swore that my children would never attend OKC School. They all graduated from Putnam City Schools and Western Heights.
    Oh, by the way, the shooter got a 6 month stint in a Missouri detention center and is now out on the streets free as a bird. Anyone know where James Brooks is? God will punish him!