Update: Parents get frightening texts from children inside Monroe High during lockdown

Posted at: 07/23/2012 9:59 AM | Updated at: 07/23/2012 3:48 PM
By: Berkeley Brean | WHEC.com

The City School Superintendent says the female student who lied when she called 911 to say two people had guns inside Monroe High School is in trouble.

The school was locked down for two hours while police searched the building.

And while they were searching, parents got frightening text messages from their children locked in the school.

"She's a good kid. And she's in the building now scared straight," Sarena Frye said as she arrived at Monroe High School. She raced to the school after getting a frightening text from her daughter.

The text messages

It read: They told us to lock the door and get on the floor in the back of the room.

"She texted me and said that she's in the school on her stomach in the back of the class," Frye said.

Parada Smith got a text from her daughter too. It read: Mom I love you something going on here & school and they told all of us to get down so just know that I love you... & pray for me.

Imagine getting that text just days after the shooting in Colorado.

"What did you think when you got that text message?" I asked.
"It shook the hell out of me. That's why I'm up here now," Smith said.

Both girls and about a thousand other students were locked inside Monroe High after another student called 911 saying there were two people with guns. Two hours later, police came out of the building and the school was unlocked.

There were no guns.

"Obviously you hear about all the things that happen and this is a major concern for us," Capt. H. Wilson Johnson said. "That's why we had the entire east side tied up here this morning."

The superintendent says he's going to deal with the student who made the call.

"The evidence is very clear that a false call was made to 911 and the student will be dealt by the district and I hope it will be dealt with by the court as well," Bolgan Vargas said. "This could have put a lot of students in danger and this is something that we don't tolerate."

When the students were let out, Sarena Frye met up with her daughter.

"She's really shy but she says she's okay. It was hot. She was down on the floor," Frye said.

And Parada Smith reunited with hers.

"It was scary. It was real scary," Essance Pulley said.

"She's fine now. She's safe, out. She's out of the school now. She's okay," Smith said.

When he was asked if the police are pursuing charges against the student for making a false call, Capt. Johnson said "we're looking into that."

Have a story you want our news team to investigate? Call us at 585-232-1010, click here to send us an e-mail or leave us a Facebook post or tweet.

Print Story