By Josh Edwards

The Vicksburg Post

 

Several schools along Mississippi 27 were locked down for about an hour and a half Thursday after a campus police officer heard a loud noise that resembled gunfire about 11 a.m.

“One of the campus police officers who was on foot on the Warren Central campus heard what he described as sounding like a gunshot from the property at the rear of the campus,” Sheriff Martin Pace said.

No evidence of gunfire was found and no injuries were reported. Warren Central High School, Beechwood Elementary School and Hinds Community College were on lockdown until about 12:30 p.m. Thursday as a precaution.

“Campus police and Warren County deputies searched the school and the school grounds and the property immediately adjacent to the school and have found nothing,” Pace said.

Vicksburg Police, Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, and federal law enforcement from the U.S. Park Service offered assistance in the search

“This type of indecent is certainly something that we never want to happen but it is something we have all trained together for,” Pace said.

Deputies, Vicksburg and Warren County firefighters and representatives from E-911 and Warren County Emergency Management Agency set up a command post and blocked traffic outside the school.

Vicksburg Warren School District Superintendent Chad Shealy praised the response by emergency responders.

“We had a very efficient safety containment event today. Everyone is accounted for and safe,” Shealy said.

The cause of the noise has not been determined. Warren Central High School is surrounded on three sides by a wooded area. Uniformed deputies remained on campus at WCHS for the remainder of Thursday as a precaution.