3 students questioned after making gun joke at Fresno High, causing lockdown

A bad joke during an alert for a possible school shooting led to three students being detained Wednesday at Fresno High School, police reported.

The school was also locked down during the lunch hour as police searched for a weapon.

Lt. Mark Hudson said officers determined that there was no real threat to the school, but indicated it was poor judgment for the students involved in the incident. Hudson said it started when someone wrote graffiti in a restroom referring to a school shooting. The graffiti was mentioned on social media, and school security was alerted. Then, security officers asked one of the three students what was in his backpack.

“Weed and a gun,” he reportedly replied.

That prompted a call to the Fresno Police Department, which has a school resource officer at the school.

The students were detained then released after officers determined there was no threat.

It was a case of “bad timing and a stupid comment,” Hudson said.

This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 1:28 PM.