I was just sitting down in the photography room before class when the announcement came on to go into lockdown. We moved over to the corner of the room and shut off all the lights. For the first 5-10 minutes we were pretty quiet but then there was nothing really going on so we started talking and moving around and then Mr. Jones came on the intercom saying that the teachers were going to receive an email in about 2 minutes. Our teacher never told us what the email said but he made us be quiet again and said that we needed to take this more seriously, that’s when I knew it wasn’t just a drill.

A little bit later Mr. Jones came back on the intercom and was telling us what was going on. About a minute after that is when everybody started getting text messages and phone calls from their parents and friends. At first we were trying to hide our phones but then after awhile we just didn’t care anymore, our teacher said we were going to tie up the phones lines with all the texting going on. I got a text message from my mom saying, “Hey I heard there are a bunch of cops at your school. Anything going on?” I told her that there was a guy that came into the school with a handgun and that the place was surrounded with cops. She wanted to make sure everyone was ok and to keep her informed. Then my dad called me and asked what was going on and if I was alright and to keep him updated. Then I started get text messages from friends from Douglas and Stevens and old friends that I don’t even talk to anymore asking what was going on.

Pretty soon, we started hearing a lot of rumors, like they found a gun on the 2^nd floor, Mr. Vernon got shot, and that there was a shot fired and Grandview Elementary. After sitting there for about an hour and a half we were starting to get bored so we laid down on the floor to get more comfortable and were listening to music and the news and watching movies on peoples iPods. Then at about a quarter to 11 Mr. Jones came back on the intercom and told us that the building was safe and we were going to start evacuating over to the civic center at 11 o’clock.

At 11:17 we heard the bell ring for 2^nd block to be over and about 10 minutes after that we saw the yearbook room light turn on. We were just sitting there watching the window waiting for them to come get us and all of a sudden you could see a guy pointing his gun in the room and shining his flashlight on everybody. That’s when I got scared and knew that it wasn’t just a joke. Then they walked and Mr. Murphy said “Its Mr. Murphy please let me in.” So we all started getting up and the guy in the S.W.A.T. uniform told us to stay there and he started talking about how we were going to line up single file with our hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us and we were going to walk out to the hallway and wait till we were all ready to head over to the civic center.

We had to make sure we were quiet in the halls and when we got outside everybody was loud talking about everything and looking at all the cop cars and seeing all the parents across the street. When we got into the civic center we went in sat in the stands and I kept getting calls from my parents and my sister and I was texting everyone but we didn’t get a lot of good service cause everyone was on their phones. At about 1:20 Mr. Jones came in and told us they found out it was fake. Everybody in the arena started yelling and getting mad but he said the good news was that we got to go home; everybody started cheering but then he said there was bad news: we might have to make up that day and that’s when everybody started getting mad again. He said they would be going back to unlock the school so students get their keys or whatever they needed. He finally let us out of there and our section was the first one out so we were out of there by 1:30.

- Stacy

I was talking in the hallway like any other day before Mr. Sheehy’s class. When the intercom came on and said something but I wasn’t listening I just thought it would be one of those messages that was telling someone to come to the office, so I thought I would just keep talking. A few seconds later Mr. Sheehy came by and told Adam and I to get in the classroom right now! I thought it was weird because Mr. Sheehy is not the kind of person to tell someone to get to class. When we got in the classroom all I could hear was people talking and running around. When Mr. Sheehy told us all to sit down and be quiet I knew something was happening, something bad.

We sat in that dark room for 3 hours until someone came and got us and while I was in there all I was thinking is how my friends feel and if this is really true. I had a feeling that something like this would happen because of the shooting at Virginia Tech but I never thought it would happen to us at our school or even like this.

People have twisted minds and I feel bad for them in a way. People who do things like this have an illness or some experience that made them want to take it out on others. The kid who did this now that I think about it and everything that happened must have wanted attention, and when I say attention I mean a lot of attention. Another part of me doesn’t feel bad for people who do this because he made so many parents, kids, teachers, and administrators feel so insecure and worried about their lives. The kid who did this made people sit in dark rooms, pee in trash cans, cry, feel like they weren’t safe, and most of all the thing he did made everyone see things that could effect them for a long time. No one wants to go to school and see a gun the size of their leg. Or even feel like they’re going to get shot. I know now that for a couple days or even weeks when I come to school I won’t feel totally safe because of what took place. On March 17, 2007 at 9:35 in the morning my school went into a lockdown and at a little after 1 we found out it was all a hoax!

~Megan

While I was just getting into my classroom for 2nd block the announcement came for us to get into lockdown, and at first it didn’t scare me at much because I thought it was just a drill. But after a couple hours, Mr. Jones sent out an email saying that this is real then I started to get a little scared. So we just all sat there in the dark, our teacher let us use our phones to call our parents to let them know that we were ok, he didn’t care if we texted our friends or family members because that makes less noise then talking on the phone – all it makes is clicking. My sister texted me and asked if she could call me to talk to me so I called her after she sent that text message and she was crying, asking me what was going on, she was more scared then I was.

When I was siting there I kept on getting text messages from my friends and family asking what was going on, and if I was ok. The part that scared me the most and when it hit me that this was real was when we were getting evacuated. When the SWAT team guy and a principal came in they just walked in and told us to get in a single file line and hold onto the person ahead of you. So as we were walking out that was the scariest part cuz there was a guy with a gun standing right there, doing the best he can to protect all of us. I belive that the Rapid City police department did a very good job of protecting us. I hope that the kid that did this learned that making prank calls like he did is very serious and not to do it again. Well thank god that we have been practicing the lock downs and stuff or we would have been so out of control, most of the people wouldn’t know what to do.

~Randi~

I was walking down the hall, next thing I know people are yelling to get in a class room immediately, lucky for me I was already by my class so I got in there right away. When I got in there no one really knew what was going on so we just assumed it was a drill.

Mr. Murphy I think was the one who came on the speakers, he had a panicked tone in his voice, and I started to worry about what was going on since he’s telling us we are having a lock down due to a kid in our school with a hand gun. After that I wasn’t really all that worried, I felt safe in the room I was in, but I was frustrated with my teacher. I didn’t have a phone, I couldn’t call anyone, I couldn’t text anyone, no one was supposed to be using their phones but everyone was. They were all getting texts about all kinds of different rumors, I don’t really know what all of them were but I know there were many. So as I’m sitting in that room for many hours doing absolutely nothing everyone started to get cranky, especially our teacher, but I was just laying on the floor sleeping while all this was going on. I would wake up whenever Mr. Jones came on the speaker, and he did a very good job with keeping us calm.

At this point we have been sitting there in that room for over 3 and a half hours, and my department was one of the last rooms to be evacuated. But when they finally arrived, a cop, a principal, and a SWAT team member came into our room. The SWAT man had a huge gun, which is what really made me believe this was real, but for some reason I was still not scared at all, I guess part of the reason is because I feel very safe here. We were told to put our hands on the person in front of us to create a chain, we were not to break the chain, and we had to move fast so this was a difficult thing to do believe it or not, especially as we walked down the stairs.

Right when I got out side, the first thing I see is cops and SWAT everywhere, police cars all around the area; I look to my left and I see SWAT on the Howard Johnson hotel. We get to the Civic Center, with people everywhere inside, everyone seemed pretty calm except for a few. Then as we are all seated Pat Jones gets on a microphone and starts talking to us, telling us how well we all handled it, then he tells us, THIS WAS A FALSE REPORT! Everyone started to get angry, he wouldn’t tell us who did it but everyone already knew who did it. Then he told us we will be out of school for the rest of the day, we all cheered, but still had anger over the false report.

This was a good experience for all of us, none of us will ever forget this most likely, we all thought it was real and we were all scared in some sort of way, but that just makes it more memorable. Now we all know this can happen to anyone of us, any time. But I know I will not forget it ever. We will all be ready for an event like this, if it ever happens again. We are all hoping it will not happen again but can at any moment. But I know we are all angry about it being false, but we are all blessed to be alive, and still all together.

- Marcus

I think the person who started the whole hoax is a complete idiot. It was the worst joke ever, I didn’t think it was funny, well I think it’s funny now that he’s in jail. During the hoax I was in the art department , I went by the window, looked out and saw men carrying really big guns it was pretty frightening. I think my art teacher did a real good job she kept us quiet, or at least tried to.

When we were informed we had to go to the civic center everyone got really serious, I thought it was pretty funny, just seeing the class clowns acting serious. When we all got to the civic center I guess we were pretty relieved even though we had to wait another hour just to get home. At the Civic Center everyone went to the bathroom, got some water, but there wasn’t any food. I was starving – no lunch just killed me.

When Mr. Jones announced what was going on I think everyone had the same reaction, anger, relief, disbelief, and joy. When Mr. Jones announced that we would be leaving early everyone cheered, but when he announced we would have to make it up at the end of the day everyone boo’d – I thought it was hilarious. When we got out there were parents everywhere, people crying, people answering questions about what they thought, news cameras, field reporters. It was just pandemonium. Overall I think this was a pretty positive experience, now we know that we are completely prepared just in case this kind of crisis really occurs.

- Eric

It seemed the average day in Spanish, kids laughing and doing things that they weren’t supposed to. Then the Mr. Jones came over the intercom saying we had a lockdown situation, so I figured hey it’s just because of Virginia Tech they want to make sure we’ll be prepared in case this situation came into play.

So we’re all sitting there in our desks and then Mr. Jones comes over again and announces, “Teachers please check your emails, thanks”. So then I feel this incredible knot in my stomach telling me something’s going on. Then Mr. M. tells us this is a real situation and tells the front row to proceed to the back of the room and turns the lights off. That’s when it got really frustrating, parents calling, crying, scared, and then we were told to get off our phones that just ticked my mom off even more. My Dad called me worried asking what was going on I told him everything was fine, no one had been shot and that as far as I knew the gunmen was not in the building, but he had been and he was carrying a handgun.

Mr. Jones came over the speaker again, “We are going to evacuate each classroom with a police officer and an administrator, students we need your cooperation.” So I called my dad again and told him I was going to need a ride when I got to the arena at the civic center.

Then I finally got back to my mom – she left me a really upset voicemail. My dad said when I didn’t answer my phone she called him and was hysterically crying and freaking out. Finally I settled her down and told her the situation. I told her that I would call her as soon as I got out of Central.

Then we tried to watch the news we tried to find a local station but we couldn’t find one, and all we kept seeing was Virginia Tech massacre all over the TV that was scary to think that could be us. Then all our natural processes needed to be fulfilled but there’s no bathrooms in our classroom and we were all starving and there was no food!

When the officer showed up with the administrator, he pretty much told us to get into conga line and shut our mouths. As we left the room I gasped as I saw the SWAT team members, thick armored vests, really, really big guns, and ear pieces to communicate with other members. They were quite intimidating to look at; you don’t want to get in a mishap around them because you stand little or no chance. I realized that when we left the world languages department we were safe; every inch of Central was covered in police and swat team members.

I finally reached the civic center and was seated in section G, then sat quietly to wait anxiously for Mr. Jones to say something. “Students the lockdown story is a hoax”, school will be dismissed for the remainder of the day.” My mom called me then telling me it was a 15 year old from Central that made the story up. I met up with my best friend Jessica and we just looked at each other both thinking about what if it was real and one of us died. We both smiled at each other and hugged each other. As we walked outside we were greeted with cameras and police officers. Everyone was talking about their day and what a day it had been! Most of all I found out who falsely reported this incident, but out of respect I’m not going to say who because I’m sure their family is embarrassed enough. That was a cry for help and I think that kid needs to get some help.

- Alec

There was me and a couple friends who had second hour off so we were sitting just hanging out when one of my friends said we had a lockdown; we all thought it was a drill because of the Virginia Tech incident but then we heard Norma the security guard say it wasn’t a drill. So we figured that they were bringing in the drug dogs but then all the security guards and a couple administrators were practically yelling “This is not a drill!” So we were basically pushed up the stairs into the library and we were told to sit down, stay down, and stay quiet.

About a minute after Mr. Jones said what was happening my phone started going off like crazy; I got texts from all my friends, calls from my family and friends, everything! But we weren’t supposed to use our phones, 10 people got theirs taken away. We had to stay quiet so my friends and I started painting each other’s nails…even the guys! And then we tried to read seeing how we were in the library but we were in the non-fiction section so there wasn’t much that we wanted to read.

We weren’t told much in the library or I at least couldn’t really hear it…some people were a little worried and others weren’t taking it very seriously…some made me really mad because if there had been a gun in the school we could’ve been in a lot of danger; a lot of people just would not shut their mouths.

There were a lot of rumors going around. When Mr. Jones first came over the intercom someone said that he sounded like he had a gun to his head, most of the rumors obviously were just people’s imaginations gone wild in a state of terror.

So most of the time was just sitting and waiting, sitting and waiting, and then they told us we were going to evacuate but we still had to sit and wait because they said we were the biggest group so they were going to take us last. Then a couple SWAT Team members and police officers came up to the library and then we just stood and waited. We finally started to leave the library and that’s when it hit most of us that we were in danger. Some still didn’t get it but for a lot of us when we saw the police and the SWAT Team we were worried; maybe not for ourselves but for someone, a little brother or sister, a friend, or a boyfriend or girlfriend.

We walked over to the Civic Center with one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us. Then my friend called me and I was talking to her because she wasn’t there but she wanted to know if everyone was alright and what was going on. She had heard that whoever supposedly had a gun went into Central and when he was spotted he ran out and went to Stevens but he couldn’t get onto campus because there were already police officers there so he went to Western Dakota Tech and was supposedly arrested there. A few minutes afterwards we were told that the whole thing wasn’t even real. The entire auditorium went into an uproar. I heard almost everyone around me say “You’ve got to be kidding!” I want to know how someone could do that. Even if I could start something like that I would not be able to keep it going for almost four hours.

- Christine

I just got in to my Spanish class. I was just in the hall walking from the Math Department going to the foreign language. I just sat in my desk and I was talking to my friends and joking around when the announcement came on. I at first thought that we just need to go and lock the door and keep going like normal. But then my teacher said that we need to shut the door and lock it and turn off the lights. I could tell that she didn’t know about it.

I then I knew that it wasn’t a drill. I didn’t even panic. We shut off the lights but it was too dark to see so we turned on a computer so we had some light to see what we are doing. I just sat in the dark and quiet room. Then after about fifteen minutes I saw some kids with their cell phones out. The first thing I did is text my friend at Stevens. I told him that we have a gunman in the school and we are under a lockdown. He didn’t believe me right away. Then he heard it on the radio. My parents were trying to call me, and I answered them with a text saying that I am ok and I am in my Spanish class. Then I texted my friends that used to go to this school that now live out of state to tell them what is going on. I was texting for about an hour.

Then my friends in class just started to talk about other things in whispers. We talked about how we hoped that we’d get out the same time because we both didn’t have a third block. Then when Mr. Jones said that the guy isn’t in the building we turned the TV on and we were watching the news. It was weird seeing the students go out with their hands on the shoulders single file. It reminded me of Columbine High School but at Central. Then when I saw the police hiding behind trees in the back by the football field that was scary knowing that I am in that building.

They showed some snipers on the hill in the back of the school. Then a little after three hours of sitting in the room Mr. Jones made the announcement that they were in the English department and then they have the Science and then the Foreign language. Then he made another announcement that they were just finishing the Science department.

Then Mr. Murphy knocked on the door and we opened it up. I didn’t think Rapid had a SWAT Team. But we do and they were there with their big machine guns drawn. That is when I started to get nervous. It became real for me then . Then we had to put our hand on the shoulders of the person in front of us and we walked to the Civic Center. When we got here we were there for like 20 min and then we were free to go.

- Matt

Text message that I had gotten from Amanda at 10:47am 4/17/07. She was in a random classroom they pulled her into and I was in photography.

There was a guy with a handgun that came to our school got spotted and left now the swat team is checkin

- Jenny

Well, hmmm… It all started at about 9:35am during the passing period from 1^st to 2^nd block. I had forestry class and just as I was walking in the room I heard a kid talking about the whole Virginia Tech thing and that it is probably going to happen to our school. Just a little while after the bell had rung; Mr. Jones our principle came over the intercom and told us to go in to lock down status. No one took it serious: “Ohh they are just practicing this now because of what happened yesterday, how stupid”.

We happened to have a sub that day and we all went over into the computer lab, then the teachers had to check their e-mail, that’s when we started being quiet and wondering what was going on. What was going on??? That was the worst feeling, we had no idea what was going on. Then one administrator came over the intercom and said that someone had spotted a man with a hand gun in the school and to stay in lockdown.

That’s when some of my class mates freaked. ”Ohh my God, I don’t want to die” and other stuff. The teacher told us to come and sit in her office (hint: Her office was only 8ft by 10ft) and there were about 25 of us. By that time everyone had pulled out their cell phones and was calling their parents.

Then they said that they are evacuating the building and taking everyone to the Civic Center. I was like “What?” I did not want to go anywhere; I just wanted to stay where I was at. There was so many rumors by then, what he looked like, that there was more that one, that there were gun shots, and that he is still in the building, and way more, none of them were good.

We were at the opposite end if the school that they were starting to evacuate so we had to wait for probably 2 hours. During this time there was lots of commotion and scary conversations. I was scared. The sub kept getting up and looking around and we are like jezz just sit down even the other teacher had to tell her to get down and that this is very serious.

Also one kid, that poor kid, had to go pee really, really bad. He was going to pee his pants so he had to go in the corner and pee in a bottle. Eww – but I guess if you have to go you have to go.

Then came the scariest part for me, It was when the SWAT team came into our room. We were already pretty shook up by then, then we hear banging on the door and then it opened. There were 3 guys all dressed out; they had helmets, bullet vest, boots, and a big machine gun with a flashlight on the end of it. All of the classes met in the hall and were ordered to go one by one down the big hall with your hands on the shoulders of the person in front of you. No one was smiling everyone was serious. You wouldn’t think that all the kids would be so cooperative and so quiet, but when it comes down to it they will. We were walking fast but it seemed like it took forever, and the whole time I was thinking, “Why are they taking us out side?” I really didn’t understand he could be out there. We walked by rows and rows of cops, all of them we decked out.

We make it over to the civic center, and find out that it was a big fake, yeah a phony. Everyone had mixed thoughts and emotions: some mad, some sad, some happy, just all kinds. I was mad how could some stupid kid do this, there could have been way more important thing that those cops could have been doing, but no. We walked out of the Civic Center and there were tons of parents, it was kind of nice to know that they really cared. I went and saw my mom and talked with her, then I went home and talked with my dad and family. In the end I think it was kind of good for the community, I think it brought us together, and now we know that the schools are protected pretty well and the cops will be there in a snap.

- Presli