JACKSONVILLE, N.C. – Guns and rumors of guns aren’t the only things that will cause schools to go into lockdown mode.
Costumes – complete with plastic sword – apparently will do it, too.
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Four schools in Onslow County, North Carolina were sent into police lockdown when a cafeteria worker panicked when the employee saw someone dressed like a pirate.
It was “International Talk Like A Pirate Day” and one school employee apparently decided to take it one step further.
A staff member reported seeing a “suspicious person” – the “pirate” – approaching the school and called police.
“The Onslow County Sheriff’s Office said that ‘suspicious person’ turned out to be a Richlands Elementary staff member dressed as a pirate,” ABC 12 reports.
The school was locked down for about three hours and no “suspicious person” was to be found – likely because he or she was in a classroom.
According to The Daily News, “Onslow County Schools sent out a news release the day after the incident indicating the it was a case of mistaken identity and there was no malicious intent.”
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WITN reports the panic started when “the worker mistook a plastic sword for a gun.”
“It was terrifying,” says Bailey Padgett, a student at Trexler Middle tells the news station.
“I didn’t know what was going on … we were all huddled up in a corner.”
Police were also searching for a “white man” wearing “cammo pants and a drab olive shirt” but ultimately found nothing.
According to WITN, “… A man approached a teacher at Richlands Elementary this morning. The teacher noticed the man had a gun on his hip; it’s against the law to have a gun on school property. The teacher reported the man to officials, but he hasn’t been seen since.”
That likely led to the cafeteria employee mistaking the plastic sword for a gun.
Richlands Primary, Richlands High School and Trexler Middle School, in addition to Richlands Elementary, were given the all clear and the pirate festivities resumed.
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