Guns Found At High School

By Lori Fullbright, The News On 6

TULSA, OK - Three guns were found at Tulsa's Booker T. Washington High School.  The school was on lockdown for about three hours on Wednesday while school leaders and police searched for the guns.  Students were not allowed out of their classrooms and no one was allowed in or out of the building.

It happened because a student put three unloaded guns into his backpack, along with ammunition and brought them to school to sell to three other boys.  What saved the day was an anonymous tip from a parent.

The police cars parked out front were a sure sign something was wrong inside Booker T. Washington High School.

 An anonymous parent called in a tip:  guns, somewhere on the 300-thousand square foot campus.

They locked down the school, began searching and within three hours found the thing nightmares are made of.

"You're thinking what if?  Any administrator will tell you that's not the what if they want to deal with," said Principal Michael Johnson.

They found a .22 caliber, a .38 Special and a .357 Magnum.  Two were in a backpack in a classroom.  The third was in a separate classroom.

All four boys, ages 14 to 16 and of different races, were taken to the juvenile bureau.  The school's automatic calling system notified parents twice, plus a note was sent home with students.

"I came to pick her up. She told me she's freaking out.  It was scary for them," said parent Mary Huckett.

Every Tulsa high school has metal detectors, but they are used randomly.  Leaders say it's not practical to use them every day because it could take up to three hours to screen 1,200 students.

"A backpack can set off a metal detector; a student's clothing can set off a metal detector, so every single student must be searched.  It's not just a matter of walking through and you're clean," said the district's Tami Marler.

Parents, including a former News On 6 employee who has a son at Booker T., say this is a wake-up call for everyone.

"I was speechless because you think it won't happen at your school. But, you think of all the things going on all over our nation. I thought we were immune, being the number one school in the state, being one of the top schools in the nation, this doesn't happen at Booker T, but this is a wake up for all that we're not safe," said parent Kim Graham.

There's no telling what would have happened, if a parent hadn't been brave enough to pick up the phone.

The principal told The News On 6 that students were also very good about talking about what they knew or had heard and that's what led to the guns.

The staff is meeting to talk about what to do to stop this from happening again.