3 metro Atlanta schools placed on lockdown after ‘intruders’ entered school, ran from SRO

BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — Officials placed three Barrow County schools on lockdown Thursday after they say several people entered one of the schools without permission.

According to the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, Winder-Barrow High School, Russell Middle School, and Winder Elementary School were all placed on lockdown as a precaution while law enforcement officers worked to determine what was happening.

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Officials said the three people came into Winder-Barrow High School before 10 a.m. and were questioned by the school resource officer (SRO). After the SRO spoke to the “intruders,” who were not students, they ran away, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies said there were no threats and the intruders didn’t have visible weapons. Officers cleared the school and lifted to lockdowns.

Channel 2′s Bryan Mims was at Winder-Barrow High School Thursday, where many parents came to pick their children up early.

He saw parents and family members lined up outside the school. The lockdown lasted a little more than an hour as law enforcement officers searched the campus and deemed it safe, but some parents weren’t taking any chances.

Worried about what happened, one student’s sister said she came to get her younger brother, T.J.

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“They haven’t been found, with everything going on nowadays in this world, you can’t trust it. You can’t,” Kaylea Bramlett said.

It was the “third day of school, I really didn’t expect nothing like this,” T.J. Bramlett told Channel 2 Action News. “It’s wild to think that people can just walk in.”

For T.J.’s sister, school shootings have added to the weight of worry.

“You see all these other schools getting shot up. All I could think about was the ones that I love, nearest and dearest to my heart,” Kaylea Bramlett said.

Other parents gathered at the school told Channel 2 Action News they were worried too.

“So, it’s a threat, and I’m concerned and I want to know what they’re going to do so this doesn’t happen again,” Carol Frame, a parent, said.

It’s still not clear how the three intruders got inside the school. Sheriff Jud Smith told Channel 2 Action News that a student alerted the school resource officer that three non-students were there.

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A release provided by the sheriff’s office gave a rundown of the morning’s events.

“Three Barrow County Schools went on lockdown as a precaution Thursday morning after three intruders were confronted by law enforcement in Winder-Barrow High School’s gymnasium,” according to deputies. “Barrow County Dispatch was notified by the School Resource Officer at Winder-Barrow High School that three males were running from him after he attempted to identify them. The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office and Winder Police Department responded to the high school, located at 272 N. 5th Avenue in Winder, and immediately surrounded the school in an attempt to locate the three intruders.”

That’s when officers started searching the high school, parking lots, and nearby streets until they knew the scene was safe and ended the lockdown.

Checking surveillance footage, deputies said they saw the three intruders exit the school and leave in a black car.

After the lockdown lifted, classes and school activities resumed.

The sheriff said the intruders didn’t behave violently. Now, deputies are working to track them down and find out why they were at the school.

The case remains under investigation. The three intruders have not yet been identified.

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