HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — A 17-year-old West Ottawa High School male student is in police custody after a gun incident that put the school on lockdown this morning starting just before 11 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018.
By 11:20 a.m., it was all over, and Ottawa County Sheriff Steve Kempker was able to tell WHTC “everyone is safe.”
By 11:25 school officials texted parents that there had been a lockdown, then a shelter-in-place incident and that the district would release more details later today. Classes were back in session, according to district officials.
Multiple unconfirmed reports indicate a student had brought a weapon to school and was taken into custody.
Ottawa County Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Bennett, in a formal statement released less than an hour later, said students alerted school officials to a classmate with a gun. School officials alerted police resource officers.
Those Sheriff’s deputies then found that 17-year-old and found a small-caliber handgun. No shots were fired, Bennett said, and no one was injured in the incident — despite rumors that officers used Tazers, which Bennett said was not true.
“The suspect’s motive remains unclear,” Bennett said, noting that the student’s identity and other information will be released “as it becomes appropriate.”
