Lockdown lifted for schools as Fulton police investigate report of shot fired
UPDATE: Fulton police said they responded to the area of 7th and State Streets for reports of a possible shot fired around 1:15 p.m. on Thursday.
“I received a call from the Middle School that they had just called the Fulton police because they heard gunshots,” said superintendent Jacque A. Cowherd with Fulton Public Schools. “The police, they did everything right over there, got the kids inside.”
Police said they found a single shell casing in a parking lot.
Officers then canvassed the area, but said they could not locate any other evidence related to what was reported and did not receive any reports of injuries.
Schools were put on lockdown as a precaution, briefly before being told they could resume normal operations, police said.
“We use the term lock down in a lot of different ways, but it was an external lock down where we lock all of the outside doors and keep the kids from sitting in windows,” explained Cowherd. “We didn’t disrupt too much in the building.”
Some kindergartners from Bush Elementary were on a field trip during the ordeal, but Cowherd said they were redirected to the Fulton Education Center.
Despite quick action, alerting parents and teachers did not go as planned.
“We found out that we had a little snafu in some of our text messaging systems for our staff,” said Cowherd. “Parents got the notice, but staff didn’t. I think that’s fixed by now, but we’ll test it again in a couple days when things calm down.”
UPDATE: 2:15 p.m.: The Fulton Schools will dismiss normally, with police monitoring all the parking lots.
UPDATE 2 p.m.: Fulton Middle School has lifted their lockdown.
Bush is still on lockdown after a parent reported another gunshot in the area.
ORIGINAL: Fulton police confirm they are investigating a possible shooting near the area of the Missouri School for the Deaf on Thursday afternoon.
Fulton Middle School and Bush are on external lockdown and authorities said all children are safe and accounted for.
ABC 17 has crews on the way to learn more about the incident.
Stay with this story for the latest information.
