A gun reportedly seen in the waistband of a student at a high school in Santa Rosa on Friday that sent the building into lockdown may have been a water pistol, police said.
A student at Montgomery High School on Hahman Drive called the police around 10:45 a.m. and reported seeing another student on campus with a handgun.
"The student reported the gun as being 'shown off' to other students, but it didn't appear the suspect was threatening people with the handgun," a Santa Rosa police spokesperson said.
A school resource officer was already on campus, but more officers were dispatched and the school was placed on lockdown around 10:55 a.m.
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Police isolated potential suspects and searched several classrooms, but no gun was ever found, police said. Officers did find a fixed-blade knife with a black handle wrapped up in a Montgomery High School shirt, however.
Once the area was cleared by police, the lockdown was lifted around 1 p.m.
Police learned that Friday was "Senior Assassin Day" at the school, a social media game that encourages kids to bring squirt guns to school to "eliminate" certain people.
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"These kinds of 'games' on school campuses are troubling because students are bringing perceived handguns on campus and targeting other students, teachers, and administrators," said a police spokesperson.
Students at Montgomery High might have had reason to fear violence at the school, which witnessed the stabbing death of a student in March and multiple arrests of other students this year on weapons violations.
