On Wednesday, November 7th, a student brought a loaded gun into Frederick Douglass High School. He was checked with a hand-held metal detector, but the metal detector did not detect the gun he was carrying.

Frederick Douglass was the first school in the district to install walk-through metal detectors., after recent safety concerns from students and families. However, they do not have these metal detectors in the front, where the student entered. The student kept the gun in his backpack which was not put through a metal detector because it had metal on it.

When he came in, he did not have an identification badge, so he was sent to the safe room until he obtained his badge. After that, he went about his school day until he had a disciplinary issue in the hallway which resulted in school administrators searching his backpack, finding the gun. The student did not say he planned to use the gun, but he is being charged with the possession of a weapon on school property and the possession of a stolen handgun.