On February 25th at 10 AM, there was a report of a supposed suspicious person at the Rolla Middle School. Officers surrounded the middle school, Rolla Junior High, and Mark Twain Elementary campuses, and the administration underwent lockdown procedures in the other schools of the Rolla School District for safety. Word spread like chills on a cold day, and by lunch there were several interpretations of the story. There were rumors that a student at the middle school saw an armed man dressed in black, wearing a ski mask that darted into the woods. Nevertheless, by fourth hour, the administration was given the “ok” to lift the lockdown, and they were able to exit the buildings normally.

By the weekend, the stories simmered down to the possibility that a faculty member went outside, but as discovered on the security tape, he did not match the description the student made. On Monday, it was reported in the Rolla Daily News that the student may have seen something that wasn’t actually there, but they did the right thing by coming forward.