Shooting scare shuts down Lockport High School dance

Reports of a person with a gun at a homecoming dance Saturday escalated into a false rumor of an active shooter at the southwest suburban Lockport Township High School, according to authorities.

Officers at the dance were told of someone with a gun, and quickly arrested two freshman students who had “exchanged possession of a pellet gun” but who hadn’t threatened anyone, Lockport police said in a social media post. It wasn’t clear where the students exchanged the weapon.

“It was determined that the student had not brought a firearm to the dance and that there was never any threat to the school or any students,” police said. A pellet gun was found off of school grounds.

Illinois State Police sent out a message to quell a rumor that an active shooter was at the homecoming dance.

“All reports of an active shooter or subject with a gun at the Lockport Township High School this evening are flase,” state police wrote online. “Illinois State Police are on the scene with local police and it is confirmed that this was a false reported incident.”

The homecoming dance, which was located at the high school’s East Campus, was shut down after the incident, according to a statement on the Lockport Township’s website. They described the weapon as a BB gun.

The students were in custody Saturday night and were awaiting charges, police said.