Police: Lockdown lifted at Boys Latin Middle School after student with loaded magazine is detained

WEST PHILADELPHIA - Police say a lockdown at Boys Latin Charter Middle School has been lifted after a student who was seen with a loaded magazine on a bus was detained by officers at the school. 

According to authorities, the incident happened just before 8:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. 

The school was placed on lockdown after a student found a magazine clip in his backpack on the bus, police say.

"A student had opened his book bag and said why is this in here?" CEO of Boys Latin of Philadelphia, William Hayes, stated.

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"Just had to go to lockdown. It was kind of scary," student Hassir said. "Everybody was saying that somebody brought a gun."

Officials say the student was detained by police when he arrived at school and they recovered the loaded magazine. 

According to authorities, police were on location and the lockdown was lifted at 10:08 a.m.

Boys Latin Charter High School, located about two miles away, on Cedar Avenue, was also placed on lockdown just before 9 a.m., per police officials.

Alarmed parents and grandparents arrived, worried for their kids. 

"I got a phone call from Boys Latin saying that something was going on at school," grandparent Antoinette Stafford said.

Parent Darryl Johnson added, "You get that phone call. I'm sitting at my desk at work. I can't work. You have to leave. It's something in the pit of your stomach and it's going on." 

After a search for a person with a gun, officials found nothing and the incident was determined to be over. Both schools were searched because the bus had students from both middle and high schools.

"We volunteered to do a proactive search of all of our bags and buildings and nothing came back," Hayes said.

He says their student took all the right steps. "We're super thankful that he knew it didn't belong in school, so when he saw it in his book bag, he did enough to tell the bus driver."

The lockdowns come just a couple days after the deadly shooting at Roxborough High School, where football players from Boys Latin were at the scrimmage and just yards away from the gun fire.

For many, the violence and trauma are still fresh on their minds.

"That person was 14. My brother's 14. I don't want that happening to my brother," Hassir added.

"At Roxborough, a 14-year-old, he's coming from football practice. My son plays football, so all those things go through your mind as a parent, period," Johnson commented.