School locked down after deputy pulls gun

Saturday, November 07, 2009 11:01 AM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend |

By Kathy Chaffin

kchaffin@salisburypost.com

CHINA GROVE — Bostian Elementary was placed under Code Red Lockdown shortly before noon Friday after a staff member saw a Rowan County Sheriff's deputy pull a gun on a man in a vehicle outside the school.

Under a Code Red Lockdown, the doors are locked and no one is able to enter or leave the school, according to Rita Foil, public information officer for the Rowan-Salisbury School System.

Once someone recognized the man in the vehicle as a parent of a student at the school, located at 4245 Old Beatty Ford Road, Foil said the lockdown was canceled. "Within minutes, it was over from what I was told," she said.

Principal Lisa Sigmon sent a Connect-ED message to parents explaining what had happened.

The parent was apparently late for an event at the school and was speeding to get there on time, Foil said.

The Rowan Sheriff's Office deputy was behind him when he drove over the ditch and around the corner of a building at the school and got out and approached the vehicle, according to Lt. Terry Agner of the Rowan Sheriff's Office.

"Because the deputy didn't know what he was dealing with, he extracted the driver at gunpoint," Agner said. "(The parent) was acting very erratic, and (the deputy) was just using caution."

Agner said the parent was given a citation for speeding.

Contact Kathy Chaffin at 704-797-4249.