System Glitch Leaves Muskogee Parents Unaware Of Gun On Campus

Two Muskogee middle school students could face charges after being caught with a gun at Alice Robertson Junior High School.

Campus Police Chief Dan Hall said the school is still reeling from what happened Wednesday. He said a glitch in the system kept many parents from finding out they found a gun in a student's backpack.

Becky Garr was one of the parents that didn’t get notified. She said she was surprised to see an internet headline saying a student at her son's junior high brought a gun to school Wednesday.

2/21/2018 Related Story: Handgun Found On Muskogee Junior High Student

"At first, you kind of panic. You know? Terrified," she said. "As a parent, you can't sit there and think it's never going to happen here."

Garr was relieved to learn her son was safe but wondered why the school never contacted her.

"They usually do a good job of notifying us," she said.

Hall said they did put a call out, or so they thought.

"One of our servers went down that sends out our robo-call that tells them what's going on," he said.

Hall said campus police arrested two students - one who brought the gun to school and another who carried the gun at some point.

But another rumor kept parents worried Thursday.

"There was a little rumor that went out again this morning, and all these parents ran up here and got their kids," Hall said.

The chief said there was no truth to the rumored threat Thursday.

Hall hopes parents will learn to trust the campus police a little more.

"My child is in school here right now. I'm not running up here to remove him," he said.

Garr said she trusts campus police, but she still picked her son up early for his own peace of mind.

"Think back when you were 13 and put in a situation like that. It is scary," she said.

Hall said it is standard procedure to call parents when things like this happen, but they need to take time to process the situation before acting on it.