Wendell, N.C. — After about 60 minutes on lockdown, students from East Wake High School in Wendell returned to class around 11:20 a.m. Some students chose to leave for the day with parents, who, alerted to the threat, lined up outside the school’s Rolesville Road campus.
“I’m constantly calling him saying, ‘Are you OK? Can you come out? Where are you?'” one parent told WRAL News. “I see other kids coming out and hugging their parents, but I haven’t seen him yet.”
The school was briefly on a “code red” after a threat was shared on social media. A parent sent WRAL News a photo from SnapChat being circulated that showed a gun and the words “Eastwake be ready.”
Wake County sheriff’s deputies surrounded the school to help with security and to divert traffic away from the campus, a spokesman said.
Classes resumed as scheduled at East Wake. “Law enforcement officials have determined our campus to be safe for normal operations,” Principal Stacy Alston wrote in a message to parents.
Additional law enforcement and security personnel will remain on campus for the rest of the week, and afterschool activities will be canceled on Tuesday to allow for a second, thorough security sweep, Alston said.