Live ammunition found at Madison Elementary School Monday morning led to a precautionary safety lock-out.
As a number of students were entering the school, where classes start at 9:10 a.m., a student saw two bullets on the floor in the hallway just in from the parent drop-off entrance, said Warsaw Community Schools Superintendent David Hoffert.
A nearby teacher aide took the bullets to the office. Hoffert said they were “very small, small caliber” bullets.
At 9:33 a.m. Monday, Warsaw Community Schools officials received a notification from a Madison staffer of a potential safety concern, according to the first of two news releases sent out Monday morning. Following safety protocols, a precautionary lockout was initiated to allow administrators and police to investigate.
“It’s a lock-out, not a lock-down,” Hoffert said, noting that the idea is for the school to take precautionary measures with its safety team and local authorities.
Staff watched video of the students entering the school and students were very energetic, swinging their sweatshirts and backpacks, Hoffert said. He said it’s possible that a student had the bullets in their backpack or sweatshirt and they came out in the hallway.
No weapon was discovered, according to a second news release sent out Monday morning. All kids in the building, as well as all bags, were searched with a metal detector wand per Warsaw Community Schools safety policy.
“We don’t want to alarm the community, but we wanted to take the appropriate actions,” Hoffert said, adding that nothing else was found during the search.
He said they know the bullets were not there before Monday because over the weekend the floors were cleaned.
School staff were assisted by school resource officers from Warsaw Police Department and the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office to ensure that no actual threat was present, the second release stated.
