A student was arrested Wednesday after bringing a gun on campus. The weapon was discovered by students who then reported the situation to a teacher.

Late into eighth period, the school was put into lockdown as a safety precaution. The incident occurred at the field house. The lockdown was lifted soon after the bell rang at 3:40 p.m. to keep students secure until the situation was resolved.

“We had students do a really good job yesterday in making a report as soon as they got information about an issue on our campus,” principal Tim Gilliland said. “Coach Wes Kirton did the right thing and made a report as soon as possible. Within a minute, we were on top of the situation and knew where we were going, who we were dealing with and what we were looking for. We were able to secure the weapon and students, and then as soon as that happened, we lifted the lockdown.”

Because of the current problem with malfunctioning PA systems, Gilliland said the lockdown became more difficult to implement. The faculty took the situation into their own hands when classrooms were not notified of the lockdown.

“Half of our classrooms were hearing of the lockdown, so Mr. Rosser, Mrs. Baker and Mrs. Douglass went up and down halls trying to alert people that we were in a lockdown,” Gilliland said. “We probably had 98 percent lockdown really well. The good thing for us is that we knew the situation was occurring in the field house. We wanted to contain the situation so that the Canyon Police Department could do their job.”

The varsity football team was practicing on the field at the time of the lockdown.

“There was an officer with them during the lockdown,” Gilliland said. “The last thing we needed to do was lock them down and send them into the situation in the field house. They were better off on the field. We were better off with them out of the way. It helped all the way around.”

Some students, including senior Shawn Williams, were not in a classroom when the lockdown was announced.

“I was outside with Zane Crabtree and we were moving some of the robotic tracks inside,” Williams said. “Mrs. Rodarte-Suto ran and told us that we were in a lockdown. We ran into the building with the robotic tracks on our shoulders, heard on the intercom that we were in a lockdown and that they needed everyone to stay in their rooms. We got in our room, turned off all the lights and barricaded the door. It was really weird because we didn’t know what was going on. We didn’t know a lot of information.”

Concerned students first brought their knowledge of a gun on campus to Kirton, who in turn kept the situation under control and alerted administration.

“The one thing your public needs to know is your child is safe and secure,” Kirton said. “The people who are going to keep this campus safe are the kids. They are the ones who know or have heard what’s going on. It’s them keeping this campus safe.”

Williams urged restraint in spreading early information.

“A lot of rumors get spread really quickly,” Williams said. “I heard four or five different stories before the news came out about what actually happened. I think in a lot of situations it’s better to just stay quiet and not spread rumors about the person because you could really hurt somebody.”

School liason officer Cody Jones said he was impressed with the students and how they handled the lockdown.

“They are always really good at playing around, having fun and then when it’s time not to do that, every student that I dealt with was serious,” Jones said. “We didn’t have any trouble at all.”

Gilliand said that everyone in the school learned from this situation.

“It’s not ever fun going into a lockdown, but what it does for us is keep everybody out of the way so our guys can take care of the situation quickly, effectively and privately,” Gilliland said. “Anytime we lockdown, we learn new information. Kids did the right thing and a coach did the right thing to keep our school safe.”