Students Thankful After Lockdown Incident

The Carrigan Career Center was placed on lockdown this morning after a man, who was allegedly armed, approached the building.

The man did not enter the building. According to Times Record News reports, he was later found in his home and is now in jail.

Rider junior Gabby Roberson was in the school when it went into lockdown.

She said she saw the man outside before the lockdown began.

“He was just digging around in his truck,” Roberson said. “At some point he sat in his truck and he was about to shut the door, but it looked like someone was talking to him. He got out, let his dog wander around and continued to dig in his truck for something. He started walking up to where the door is and that was the point where [the janitor] Mr. Paige told [the cosmetology instructor] Mrs. Crosby ‘hey we need to go into a lockdown’. I think the man had something in his hand, but I honestly didn’t see.”

Junior Shelby Walter, who is a Chronicle reporter, was also at Carrigan when the incident took place.

“It was very sudden,” Walter said. “It all happened within a few minutes.”

Walter said they moved from a locker room to a closed computer room with a cubicle inside of it that they stayed in.

At the time Walter said she was thinking, “this is how it ends.”

“There were rumors going around that he was armed, but we didn’t really know,” Walter said. “I wasn’t scared because the door was locked and we were in that other room. It was definitely something you wouldn’t expect.”

After the incident, the all clear was given at 9:42 the students were able to leave at their scheduled time of 9:54.

“Outside I saw a couple cops and this lifted silver Toyota with the bumper gone,” Walter said. “The truck was empty and the cops were searching it. There was no sign of the dog or man.”

Walter was thankful the incident was over when she left, she said. She was also thankful for the police presence.

“It looked like the police just flew into the parking lot,” Walter said. “There was a police car parked crooked and three or four police cars on the side of the building and more in the front.”

Junior Jordan Robertson was also there and reported the incident in real time on Facebook.

“It’s scary,” Jordan said. “You wouldn’t expect that at your own school.”