Gun detector, staff stop student with loaded gun from entering a Mansfield ISD high school

Mansfield ISD leaders are expressing relief and gratitude after a potential crisis was averted Friday morning after a loaded gun was brought to campus.

“I just want to commend the staff this morning at Legacy High School.  It's a very scary situation,” said Britney Fortner, Mansfield ISD’s director of safety and security. “Really, the process went exactly how we would have hoped to in this situation.”

The close call happened just as students were walking into Legacy High Friday morning, passing through the district’s weapons detection screening system provider Evolv Express.

As students walked through the concealed weapons detection screening system, it alerted staff to a student’s backpack.

“They were identified as having something that needed to be scanned further,” said Fortner. “The administrator that was there searched the student, opened the bag, and saw the firearm.”

According to the district, it turned out to be a loaded gun.

Campus police arrested the teen but can’t legally say what charges or discipline he faces.

The district began leasing and installing Evolv detectors at all of its high school campuses, two years after a shooting inside Timberview High.

That campus was not equipped with permanent detectors, said Fortner.

Since then, voters approved a $588 million bond to purchase weapons detection systems for the district’s eight schools as well as sports stadiums.

Altogether, the district says the yearly cost is $1.6 million.

The district’s safety and security team has assigned specific doors at each campus where students and visitors are to enter and be screened during school hours.

“We do have parents and visitors who are law enforcement officers and so, when they come through and they identify themselves as an officer, it also alerts on them, but it's confirmation that the system is working,” said Fortner.

Since installing the detectors, she says other district representatives have visited to see how it works.

“When we adopted it, I know that Forney ISD was one of the only districts up here in North Texas that had it,” she said. “And since then, I believe Crowley has adopted it and some others as well in our area.”

The district has a four-year contract with the company.

“Then we'll evaluate when we get close to the end to say, this is still the best available technology for the price of safety on our campuses,” said Fortner. “I don't even think you can put a price on it.”

In a message to parents, the district said there are no current threats to any specific students or staff.