Parents reunited with children at Slinger Middle School following gun scare, suspect in custody

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) --  A scary afternoon for students and parents in the Slinger School District has come to a close.

Nobody was injured and the all-clear has been given after a middle school student yelled they had a gun in the hallway, causing a lockdown at the middle school, high school and Slinger Elementary.

It's been an emotional, frightening afternoon for the parents and students in Slinger, some who were already on edge following the deadly elementary school shooting earlier this week in Uvalde, Texas.

"Panic, high, high anxiety, everything is still shaking," said Deanna Franken, mother of Slinger students. "Everything is shaking."

Just three days after a shooting at a Texas elementary school left 19 students and two teachers dead, police officers in tactical gear swept the grounds at Slinger Middle School as parents waited anxiously to be reunited with their kids. 

"All you want to do is hear from her, that she's okay," said mother Alison Martinich. 

Alison Martinich has two daughters in the district. She says she discussed school shootings with them on the way to school Friday morning. 

"I told her that, I said what I do is I put my trust in the Lord and I pray every morning when I drop you off at school that God will protect you," Martinich said. "Never did I ever think I'd get the phone call I did."

"For our kids to have to deal with this, it's just not right," said Franken. She says the shooting in Uvalde, Texas made it difficult to send her kids back to the classroom.

"As a parent, you just have to try to comfort them and try to promise everything's going to be okay, and then today it shows it might not be okay."

Bother mothers are grateful nobody was injured and their kids are home safe. 

"Keep our kids close and love on them," said Martinich. 

According to the Washington County Sheriff's Office, a student was taken into custody following the incident and no gun was found. 

In an email to parents, the school district said they believe this may have been "a case of a foolish statement coming from a possibly joking manner."

BREAKING: Slinger Middle School, High School and Slinger Elementary are all on lockdown. This email sent to parents in the district says a student at the middle school hallway yelled they had a gun. Police are actively investigating. @CBS58pic.twitter.com/FcVo1Pyhw8

— Emerson Lehmann (@ELehmannTV) May 27, 2022