Westview High School student taken into custody after reports of armed person

BENNINGTON, NE. — 8:16 P.M. UPDATE: The Douglas County Sheriff's Office has conducted two searches of Westview High School, as well as a special search of the areas the student was in.

DCSO says no firearm has been found. DCSO says the initial report came from a School Resource Officer after multiple students claimed they saw a student with a firearm.

DCSO says the investigation continues.

ORIGINAL STORY READS AS FOLLOWS:

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office's office has confirmed that the armed person reported at Westview High School Friday afternoon is a student who is now in police custody.

According to DCSO, the department responded to the school just after 2:30 p.m. The school was placed on lockdown as the department, as well as Nebraska State Patrol and Bennington Police, searched the building.

A student is being questioned after deputies say a handgun was reported in the student's bag while inside a classroom at Westview High School in Bennington.

No one was hurt.

Law enforcement responded to the school, located just off 156th and Ida, and swept the building for the suspect while the school was on lockdown.

The lockdown was lifted just after 3 p.m. when the student was found and taken into custody.

Westview student Charai Hodges described the moment officers entered her classroom.

"I thought we were going to the next block. Then, they told us we had to stay in class, then they told us to go to the back of the classroom," Hodges said. "While we were in the classroom, the cops and stuff came in the classroom with the big guns and stuff."

Douglas County Sheriff's Office PIO Spencer Head said investigators do not believe there is an ongoing threat.

"We don't have any reason to believe there is a threat moving forward. We are still continuing the investigation; it is pretty young at this point," Head said. "We are not aware of any actual threat made to any actual student to commit violence in the building or at any point."

The sheriff's office confirmed that Westview's home football game against Papillion-La Vista was not canceled.

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"The DCSO is not currently aware of any threats to commit violence made by the individual," DCSO said in a social media post; the department also asked the public to avoid the area.

Students were evacuated from the building following the report.