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Incident near northland schools turns out to be ROTC student, police say

Posted at 8:21 AM, Aug 17, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-17 12:46:02-04

A call reporting an armed man near two northland schools turned out to be a student wielding a replica firearm prop used in drill team exercises, an officer on the scene told 41 Action News Thursday morning.

A district spokesperson told 41 Action News that before school started, a staff member believed they saw a student holding a long gun, which turned out to be the prop.

School officials put Congress Middle and Park Hill High into lockdown since many students were still in the halls before classes began. Sources at the school originally reported they were in "hold and secure" mode, which turned out to be a miscommunication. 

A parent told 41 Action News his child was texting him details of the situation, which included that students were locked in dark classrooms until things calmed down. 

The district reached out to all parents, staff and community through email, text, social media and its website to notify them of the situation.

Kansas City police officers and Platte County deputies working to gather more information cleared the scene around 9 a.m. The initial report came in around 7:35 a.m.

School resource officers continued to monitor the situation after responding officers left the scene, but reported nothing suspicious.  

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