'Suspicious item' prompts lockdown at Cypress Bay High School in Weston
FORT LAUDERDALE -- For the second time in 8 days, Cypress Bay High School in Weston was locked down on Tuesday, alarming students and their parents.
On Monday of last week, the school at 18600 Vista Palm Boulevard in Weston not far from Griffin Road was locked down for a few hours because of an unspecified threat.
On Tuesday, the school was locked down again after students told CBS4's Peter D'Oench that shotgun shells had been discovered in a boy's locker room.
12th grader Diego Salaverria said, "Apparently there were people in the gym when this happened and they said there were shotgun shells."
12th grader Ricardo Pinango said "I am hearing the same thing that shotgun shells were found. Also they were looking for names. They came into my room looking for names. It's the 2nd time in less than 2 weeks that something has happened and so I am concerned. I am worried. You never know if something will happen."
11th grader Pablo Mercado said "What I know for sure is that they found a list of names with bullet shells next to it in the bathroom in the PE gym. It does concern me about safety.
BSO spokesman Carey Codd said the school was locked down out as a precaution after a student alerted school administrators and BSO school resource officers that a suspicious item had been found. Codd said BSO could not say what was found or what BSO deputies were looking for.
Codd said there was no threat to the school and no weapon was found at the school.
A student sent CBS4 a cell phone video of a BSO K-9 officer scouring the gym with his dog. Other cell phone video shows students in a classroom during the lockdown. The lockdown was lifted after a while and the school was placed on a "secure status" that was lifted by 1 p.m.
Dr. David Morris and his wife Risa have two children at the school.
Dr. Morris said "This gives me concern because first there is the risk to my child. I worry about someone with bad intentions. The second is the lack of information we are receiving about what they found was a concern or not."
Risa Morris said "How did this item get on campus? It's a very scary thing and safety is a big concern."
Cypress Bay High School returned to normal operations before 1 p.m.
Some parents said they would like to see stationary metal detectors at the entrance of every high school.
Wendy Perez said, "I would like to see them in every school as a necessity."
A spokeswoman for Broward County public schools said the district does not have stationary metal detectors in schools.
She said the school system implemented a handheld metal detector program in August of 2022, "where District security personnel trained on the use of the handheld devices conduct random screenings at high schools, middle schools and grades 6-8 in K-8 schools during the school day."
She said "Schools and classrooms within each school are randomly identified using a computerized tool, which eliminates bias in the selection process. The process includes all students and their belongings."
