A Northwest Indiana school was placed on lockdown Thursday morning after administrators found a stray bullet inside the school, according to police.
LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a school official at New Prairie High School around 9:15 a.m. Thursday reporting a student had found a single 9mm round bullet inside of the boys’ bathroom, police say.
The bathroom the bullet was discovered in was on the school’s Freshman Academy campus area, according to police. The school was immediately placed on lockdown and administrators began a search with the Sheriff’s deputies of all of the students’ lockers in the building. No additional bullets or weapons were found.
This marks the third time in the past two weeks a LaPorte County school has been placed on lockdown after a bullet being found. Two other stray bullets were found last week with no further clues discovered as to who could be the culprit.
A total of nine bullets have been found in Northwest Indiana schools since last fall, according to the Northwest Indiana Times.
LaPorte County Sheriff John Boyd said officers will continue to have a presence in the area’s schools and continue their investigation into who is carrying the bullets. If the incidents continue to happen, police will start treating the events as a crime scene, the publication reported.
“We are slim on leads at this point however we would appreciate anyone with information to contact the Sheriff’s Office,” Boyd said in a statement.
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The NW Indiana Times reports police have met with school faculty and staff to agree that if another bullet is found, it shouldn’t be touched so investigators can take it in to be fingerprinted and DNA tested in an attempt to finally find who is responsible.
"I wouldn't say that we're angry, but I will say we're very frustrated and we want this to stop," LaPorte County Police Capt. Mike Kellems told the newspaper.
