HALL CO. SHERIFF’S OFFICE (HCSO) NEWS RELEASE:
“A student who climbed on the roof at West Hall High School (WHHS) Thursday morning,
prompting the lockdown of the school, is facing charges in connection with the incident.
The case unfolded around 9:00…when the assistant principal at WHHS
contacted the school resource officer (SRO) to report he had seen a suspicious male with a
backpack on the roof of the school building. While the assistant principal and the SRO were
communicating on the phone, the person jumped from the roof and ran across the school’s
practice field to a wooded area.
Both the school official and the SRO gave chase while the WHHS principal placed the school on lockdown to ensure everyone’s safety. In addition, neighboring West Hall Middle School was placed on an exterior lockdown.
A K9 tracking team from the Oakwood Police Department responded to the scene along with several Hall
County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) patrol deputies.
As the search was underway for the person, school officials were able to determine he was
a 15-year-old student at the school. With that information in hand, HCSO investigators
went to the student’s home where they spoke with the student’s mother, who instructed
her son to turn himself in to authorities.
The student was transported to Hall County Juvenile Court on misdemeanor charges of disruption of a school and criminal trespass.”