Police respond to ’emergency’ at Tennessee high school
Published 11:07 am Tuesday, August 10, 2021
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CHURCH HILL (AP) — Police responded to a high school in East Tennessee on Tuesday for what school officials called an “emergency situation.”
Officials with Hawkins County EMS Ambulance Services confirmed multiple ambulances were at Volunteer High School in Church Hill and said several patients have been transported from the scene, according to WVLT-TV in Knoxville.
Video broadcast by media outlets showed a large police presence at the school, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) east of Knoxville in Hawkins County.
Hawkins County Schools said on its website that Volunteer High students were evacuated in school buses to a National Guard Armory to be picked up by their parents.
“There has been an emergency situation at Volunteer High School,” the schools statement said. “Our major concern at this time is for the safety of our students and staff; please stay clear of the area to allow law enforcement and emergency personnel access to the area.”
Other schools in the county also were placed on a temporary lockdown that was later lifted, the statement said.
No further details were immediately released ahead of a news conference planned by the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident happened on the second day of the new school year in the county.