(Updated at 2:15 p.m.) Alexandria City High School is back to normal operating status after a lockdown Tuesday morning when a student was arrested outside the school with a handgun.
The school released the following note at around 12:30 p.m.:
The status of the Alexandria City High School (ACHS) building has changed from lockdown to “secure the building” mode. This means that the school day reverts to normal status inside the building but no one is allowed to enter or leave the ACHS King Street school campus while the building remains secured. Updates will continue to be shared as more information becomes available.
ACHS Executive Principal Peter Balas confirmed in a note to parents that a student was arrested outside the school.
“We want to inform Alexandria City High School families that we received a call this morning to notify us about a student who possessed a weapon outside of the school building,” Balas wrote. “We immediately contacted the Alexandria Police Department, and APD is on capus and conducting an active investigation.”
Balas continued, “The student was not in the building at the time of the call and has since been taken into custody by APD, and the weapon has been confiscated.”
Balas said that there is no immediate threat and that the school is in lockdown out of an abundance of caution.
ALXnow has sent questions to Alexandria Police and Alexandria City Public Schools for an update.
On Friday, Balas wrote a letter to the community that a recent shooting of a student at the McDonald’s at the Bradlee Shopping Center and the firecracker incident at a recent ACHS football game has added to a “heightened sensitivity” within the school.
