The Late Show With Stephen Colbert started on a sombre note after news of the tragic shooting at a school in Texas broke. Video / CBS / Supplied
A high school student in Texas has been arrested after he was seen holding an assault rifle and walking towards a high school in Richardson.
This comes just a day after 19 children and two adults were killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which is about a six-hourdrive away.
Within minutes of receiving a call from a local business reporting the terrifying sight, police were dispatched to Berkner High School, where the suspect is a student. Nearby schools in the area were also notified.
BREAKING: A student has been arrested at Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas. There was an AK-47 and replica AR-15 rifle inside his vehicle.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) May 25, 2022
Police later found the student inside the high school, but no weapon on his person.
A search of his car parked outside the school parking lot recovered an AK-47 style pistol and a replica AR-15 style Orbeez rifle.
"The juvenile suspect was arrested and charged with Unlawful Carrying Weapons in a Weapon-Free School Zone, T.P.C. 46.02, a State Jail Felony," a statement from the Richardson Police Department read.
"No further information is being released on the suspect due to his age."
A ninth grade English teacher from Berkner High School shared her experiences of the lockdown on Twitter. Identifying herself as just Ms T, she said her class were forced to sit in the dark for about an hour while she attempted to obstruct the door.
"My kids were sitting in the dark and some were crying for about 1 hour while I was barricading the door with whatever desk/chair I had, telling the kids 'It's okay, everything's going to be okay.' but the truth is.. I didn't even know if it as going to be okay," she tweeted.
"I messaged my friends and family, and then I finally took a seat between the door and my students when the kids were frantically whispering at me to 'PLEASE SIT DOWN'".
This happened this morning at Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas by the way.. You never think this could happen to you until it's at your own front door. https://t.co/mZVAKVYbG3
The teacher also appealed to Texan Senator Ted Cruz and the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott to reform gun law.
"I'm shaken, terrified, and honestly a little bit upset too because there were definitely ways to prevent this kind of stuff from happening in the first place," she tweeted. "We need to do better and coming from someone who's a teacher, no it would NOT help if you tried to arm us."
The email sent to parents in the Berkner High school area. Photo / Supplied
"We're supposed to be teaching children without worrying about what to do if something did happen. Instead of focusing on legislature that regulate what books I'm allowed to teach in school, why don't you do something about the other glaring issue at hand."
'Police were everywhere, parents alerted'
In another tweet, the father of a daughter who attended the high school described the large police presence around the area.
"We live close, so we go near the school, not too near, and police are everywhere," he shared in a tweet.
Today, my daughter at Berkner High in Richardson texts me that they are on lockdown. We live close, so we go near the school, not too near, and police are everywhere. In the car next to us (off campus) police bring the suspect and have him open his car. Assault rifle was found.
"Berkner HS has been placed on a Lockdown protocol based on police activity in the neighbourhood and reports of an armed person near campus," the email read.
"There have been no reports of gunfire or injuries and Richardson police are present at school, and a person has been detained.
"Springridge Elementary has been placed on a secure protocol due to the situation.
"RISD Safety & Security are in contact with Richardson Police, and students and staff at both campuses are safe and accounted for. We will update you when police have provided an all clear."
Incident occurred in shadow of Uvalde massacre
Although no fatalities, injuries or gunfire was recorded during the incident, the lockdown unfolded just a day after a deadly and tragic shooting at another Texan elementary school.
18-year-old local man, Salvador Ramos opened fire in a classroom on Tuesday morning (local time), killing 19 students aged eight to 10 and two teachers.
The incident unfolded after the teenager shot his grandma. He later drove himself to the local elementary school, equipped with two assault rifles that he purchased in the days after his 18th birthday on May 16.
The horrific attack has sparked a mass condemnation of US' gun laws.
Speaking on Tuesday night, US President Joe Biden pushed for legislation reform, calling on politicians and law makers to find their backbone and "stand up to the [gun] lobbies".
"We as a nation have to ask when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby," he pleaded.
"When in God's name do we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?"
