Hillside High School was placed on lockdown Friday as authorities to searched classrooms for people with firearms.
Police heard of a drug complaint in the area around campus at 10:33 a.m., initially learning that three people linked to the complaint had entered the school. It was also initially believed that the three matched the description of suspects from a carjacking that happened off-campus. Authorities eventually determined that the three were not suspects in the carjacking.
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Authorities placed the school on lockdown while officers and deputies searched campus.
The three people in question were later found. No weapons or drugs were located and no arrests were made.
A letter from Durham School of Technology principal Lamont Dixon informed parents that "law enforcement conducted a thorough room-by-room search of the building with weapons drawn after receiving reports that the suspects may be on campus with firearms." The school is part of Hillside's campus.
Durham Public Schools (DPS) Superintendent Anthony Lewis was at Hillside during the lockdown. DPS said its "standard procedure to check each room while assessing a potential threat."
"When I signed that contract, I was signing that contract to ensure that I have the best interests of our students and our staff, all 32,000 of our students' best interests at heart," said Lewis. "I dare not sit in my office while families, students, and staff are in panic mode because of a lockdown, and not knowing what's going on at that time."
Durham police and Durham County deputies responded to the school and blocked off any access from Fayetteville Street. The lockdown was lifted around 12:30 p.m.
Police said a stolen vehicle was found crashed near the Hope Valley Golf Course around 8:30 a.m. A second vehicle was stolen at gunpoint in the 3100 block of Surrey Road. That vehicle was recovered.