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Domestic dispute prompts police presence at Ocean Lakes HS

Posted at 7:44 PM, May 16, 2013
and last updated 2013-05-16 19:44:27-04

Virginia Beach, Va.- Classes were disrupted on Thursday after there was a domestic dispute.

Initially, police said there was no lockdown at the school, but school officials confirm that there was a lockdown issued at 9:45 a.m. while police searched for a student there.

Police said that they were unaware of the lockdown.

They say there was a dispute between the student and his mother at their home just before 8:30 a.m.

The mother stated that she saw a gun in her son's car yesterday and contacted police.

Police officers went and searched for the boy after he left for school at Ocean Lakes and the decision was made to alert parents of the situation.

“I don’t like it, and I don’t feel that other parents are going to like it either,” says Leslie Laheart, a Virginia Beach mom who had plenty of questions about what happened at the school this morning.

“There was a kid that was being questioned, an irate child that was out of control, is what my son told me,” says the Beach mom.

The boy was located as he approached the school with friends. They were all detained and questioned by officers.

It was eventually determined that the weapon in question was actually a photograph on the student's phone.

A senior at the school says police were searching the school buses and questioning students.

“They were pulling people asking for school I. Ds,” says the student.

Laheart says she just wishes the school had told parents exactly what was going on.

“We’re already scared enough in America, you don’t need to scare us anymore than what we are. Period,” says Laheart.

Beach police say things are now back to normal at the school.

They say they will not have increased police presence at the school on Friday.

In a statement released late Thursday, Virginia Beach Police say they "will always err on the side of caution in these situations at our schools to ensure that our students and staff are safe."