“Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown.” Three words that sent the building into a silent understanding. When the initial silent panic wore down in students’ minds and the rumors crept in, students realized it was not a drill.

Unknown to the faculty, a silent panic alarm button in the attendance office had unintentionally gone off, due to a mechanical issue. According to Assistant Principal Erin Steep, the false alarm in attendance sent a signal to the office to go into lockdown, leading to the announcement and interior lockdown, during sixth hour on May 9.

“I thought it was a drill, and then I realized that they didn’t say drill,” junior Carson Hackney said. “[I felt] scared and I prayed.”

While most classes immediately listened and followed the lockdown protocol, some students didn’t quiet down until time passed and phones began to blow up with rumors speaking of police officers and intruders.

“I think because we didn’t know exactly what was going on, there was a lot of unknowns,” junior Sarah Moore said. “You can go straight to the worst case scenario, especially considering the events of the past couple years.”

While no one ever tried to enter the building, teachers and faculty quickly reacted to the lockdown announcement, pulling students from the halls, turning the lights out and locking their doors. Without knowledge of the situation, many teachers even grabbed a tool as a weapon or barricaded doors, trying to keep their students safe from any potential threat.

“I think they did a good job considering no one really knew what was going on,” Moore said. “There wasn’t much they could do, but the teacher I was with was really calm and followed their training.”

After about 25 minutes, the lockdown ended when the police officers and administration determined the building was safe and the alarm was false. Students were then released to seventh hour classes.

“They did a really good job,” Steep said. “It’s a scary situation, because you don’t know what’s going on, but everybody did exactly what they were supposed to do. We’re proud of them. They did a good job.”