Lockdown at Dunbar High After Reported Gun Sighting; No Weapon Found

A student reported seeing a person with a weapon inside Paul Laurence Dunbar High School on Orleans Street at about 11:30 a.m., prompting an immediate lockdown that Baltimore Police, Baltimore City School Police and Baltimore City Sheriff’s deputies searched until the lockdown was lifted around 1 p.m. Chief of City School's Police Jeffrey Shorter praised the reporting student: “We teach our students, if you see something, say something. It works, and we responded accordingly.”

Baltimore City Public Schools notified parents and held students in classrooms and the cafeteria while officers conducted a campus-wide search, district spokesperson Sherry Christian told WJZ. “Parents came to the school, obviously, when they heard,” Christian said. “Students began sending photos, and they came to the school to try to get their family member. They were outside as this was happening.”

Officials said no firearm was recovered and the report was determined to be false, and classes resumed after the lockdown ended. School officials and local outlets gave slightly different characterizations of the duration — with one calling it “over an hour” and another saying “for several hours” — but all cite the initial sighting at about 11:30 a.m. and the lift around 1 p.m. Students were dismissed early and all after-school activities, including a scheduled basketball game, were canceled that afternoon.

The scene on Orleans Street in the Dunbar-Broadway neighborhood drew a heavy law-enforcement response and families gathering outside the school. Banner reporting noted “more than a dozen police vehicles were parked outside the school on Orleans Street,” and that students later streamed out to walk along Orleans Street for lunch while a group of kids played soccer nearby.

Some parents voiced fear about sending children back to campus. Parent Tammie Garrett Edwards told WJZ, “It makes me feel terrified. I don't want to send my son to school. I want him to get an education, but I don't want him to go to school.” School officials said counseling would be available to any student who needs it; Christian told the Banner, “Counseling will be provided to any student who needs it.”

A separate item captured in a Fox Baltimore video description notes that a student was arrested at Dunbar on Feb. 3 after being found with a handgun; that earlier incident is presented in video metadata and was not tied by officials to the Feb. 18 lockdown. Baltimore City Public Schools and law enforcement have said the Feb. 18 lockdown was implemented “to allow officers to conduct a thorough search and ensure the safety of students and staff.”