MANDEVILLE, La. — An alarming call hit the phonelines of some local parents this morning. Fontainebleau High School notifying parents that a 15-year-old student was arrested.
“The call came to us that there was a rumor that there was a weapon on the campus,” said parent Jason Olivier.
The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office released a statement this morning, confirming staff at Fontainebleau were notified after school hours on Thursday that a student had a weapon on campus.
“Well at first, of course, I was nervous because my daughter was already at school,” said the mom of a student who wished to remain anonymous.
Deputies responded quickly and arrested the student who allegedly had the weapon. The swift action of the school and law enforcement gave this local mom a sigh of relief.
“I do like that they said that if there was any other threats, they’re going to treat them the same way. Even if there’s no weapon, they’re going to treat them as if there was,” she said.
Jason Olivier, whose teenager is a junior at the Fontainebleau, says he’s heard pressure has been mounting on students.
“I knew that tensions are high with the kids, tensions are high with everybody. They had actually a few fights this week at school,” said Olivier.
He says the pandemic is to blame.
“I think just the effects of covid are really getting to them,”
Despite their initial concerns, parents are grateful that this potentially dangerous situation was handled so quickly.
“I feel very comfortable with the security at Fontainebleau High School,” said Olivier.
“I think that they appropriately took care of it.”
The 15-year-old male student was arrested and charged with terrorizing. We asked the sheriff’s office what kind of weapon he brought in, but they did not elaborate. How the teenager got the weapon and the motive for bringing it to school are unknown at this time.