Spanaway middle school student causes hour-long lockdown after displaying airsoft gun

A 14-year-old student at Cedarcrest Middle School in Spanaway caused a lockdown for over an hour after displaying an airsoft gun.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, deputies got a call of a weapon being displayed at the school on Tuesday around 1 p.m. School Resource Deputies and patrol deputies responded as the school went into lockdown.

Deputies were given the name of a student who was accused of being seen with a gun tucked in his waistband at school. Deputies checked the classroom where the student was supposed to be, but he wasn’t there. Deputies found the student in the second-floor hallway and detained him. No gun was found, so deputies kept the school in lockdown as they searched for it.

K9 Brix arrived, went to the 2nd-floor bathroom, and hit on the garbage can. The K9 Deputy emptied the can and found what looked like a Glock pistol inside the garbage can, as there were no markings signifying it was an airsoft or BB gun. After looking more closely, deputies saw it was a Glock fully automatic airsoft gun. Deputies said it had a similar weight as a normal handgun and all the markings of a normal Glock pistol.

Once the weapon was found, the lockdown was lifted at 2:16 p.m. The 14-year-old student was arrested for possessing a dangerous weapon on school property and harassment.