South Gwinnett High School lifts soft lockdown after shooting near campus
Lockdown lifted after shooting near high school
South Gwinnett High School parents were left shaken and uneasy Wednesday even after the school's soft lockdown was lifted. Snellville Police say shots were fired during an apparent drug deal near campus. Parents say their kids are traumatized, and some say the school didn't do enough to put them at ease.
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - South Gwinnett High School in Snellville was placed on soft lockdown around 9 a.m. Wednesday due to a shooting near campus. It was lifted by noon, but parents told FOX 5 they were unhappy with the way the school handled the situation.
"It's stressful to send him to school, and it shouldn't be like that," Xochitl Sherman, a parent told FOX 5, referring to her son.
Parents were left shaken and uneasy Wednesday after a shooting less than half a mile from the school's campus prompted the hours-long lockdown.
"They come to school to learn, not so they have to watch their backs if somebody is going to shoot," Gwendolyn Willett, a parent with two children at the high school, said.
Snellville police say at around 8:50 a.m., an 18-year-old was shot in the leg on Eastgate Place during an alleged drug deal. Officers used a tourniquet on his leg before medics rushed him to the hospital.
Police say the suspect ran into a wooded area. Investigators searched it in an unlucky attempt to apprehend the suspect.
Multiple police cars and officers were observed at and near the school.
"They should be safe at school," Willett told FOX 5. "They shouldn't have to worry about this. My kids are traumatized. They aren't coming back here, they're done for the year."
Students told FOX 5 they believed the shooting involved other students from the school, but police have not confirmed that information.
Willett said she was frustrated that the administrators didn't provide constant updates for worried parents.
"The school wouldn't say nothing," she said. "All they kept on saying was ‘Right now we’re not letting anybody out, and we're not letting anybody in'. That's not enough. That's not enough when you got somebody else's child in your custody."
A soft lockdown prevents students from being outside but teaching and learning continues inside the school.
The nearby elementary school, WC Britt Elementary, also appeared to have been placed on soft lockdown.
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