GEISMAR — A mother says her son was scared for his life this morning when another student allegedly pulled out a weapon while in the bathroom at Dutchtown High School. It was around 8 a.m. when officials were alerted of a possible gun on campus, and school administration made the decision to lockdown the school.
“Today, my son called me in fear for his life at Dutchtown High School,” the boy’s mother, Valencia, told UWK. UWK is choosing not to name the boy to help protect his identity.
The student told UWK he had been in the bathroom at the sinks when he noticed something suspicious.
“I washed my hands, and I started a conversation with somebody I knew in the restroom, and as I was conversating with him, I see out the corner of my eye this dude, and he pulled out his gun from around his chest area,” he recalled. “Then he pulled it and he started flashing around in the mirror. And then he started pointing around the restroom saying he had ops.”
According to the high schooler, “ops” refers to “enemies,” which is why he particularly got scared that something bad could happen.
“Then I just walked out the restroom, but my body got to shaking, and I felt like I needed to text someone so I called my mom,” he told UWK.
Plus, the student says he is on edge even more after his cousin was shot and killed in a Gonzales parking lot.
“My baby was in fear for his life, so he called me and text me, and I work overnight, so I didn’t get the text right away, but when he called, I knew immediately something was wrong, and he hung up,” she recalled. “So when he hung up, his dad and I checked our phones, and he kept saying, ‘Please, please, can y’all come get me? My life is in danger.'”
Valencia said she reacted instinctively and immediately stopped what she was doing.
“I dropped everything, and I called the school, and I was screaming and crying, and I told them, please go save my son.”
From there, the school officials put the campus on lockdown. The mother told UWK that administration was able to get her son and also locate the boy who had the gun. She stressed how quickly school administrators and deputies acted.
READ MORE Student in custody after bringing gun on high school campus
Because she doesn’t have a ride, Valencia said she walked to the high school to check on her son.
“When I got there, it was on lockdown, and they told me they got my son and they got the kid detained with the gun,” she said.
As a mother, she’s not only thankful her son is alive and safe, but that he was able to help others by reaching out when he felt there was a threat.
She believes her son helped save other students from a possible tragedy by speaking up at the right time.
“I’m happy that he was able to not only save his life, but he saved other kids as well. And I told him, ‘Don’t ever be afraid to tell if something like that happened. You see something, say something.’ I’m proud of him and I’m happy the school acted as quick as they did. They saved my child.”
Her son is home now, and attempting to recover from the high emotions that this incident has brought on. He told UWK that he knew he needed to reach out to someone so that the incident didn’t escalate into something much worse.
“I just didn’t want nothing bad to happen,” the teen said. “Like the same thing that happened to my cousin, could have happened to me, to anyone else.”
Dutchtown High’s principal released the following statement, in part, this morning:
This morning, Dutchtown High School went into a lockdown after a student brought a firearm on campus. Due to the quick and coordinated actions of the school administration and the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office, the student was immediately taken into custody. All students and staff are safe.
No other details have been released.
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