Gun found at Ben Franklin High, three students held

Three students at Benjamin Franklin High School were taken into police custody after a handgun was found at the school on Friday afternoon.

The school was placed on lockdown in the early afternoon, when someone reported hearing a gunshot inside the building and a shell casing was found in a stairwell, police said. Police found the handgun after SWAT teams and the highway patrol responded to the school around 12:30 p.m.

The students who were taken into custody left the school in handcuffs shortly before 2 p.m. It was unclear exactly how each had been involved in the incident, police said.

No one was injured, police said.

Students said they found it hard to believe that someone was able to get into the school with a gun. Each entrance has metal detectors, and a security guard is posted on each of the six floors of the school.

Michael Bonner, a junior, said he was on the fourth floor when his friends came running toward him, saying, "Someone's shooting."

"I was in the bathroom when it happened and it scared me to death," said Destiny Strothers, a junior. "I was in the bathroom taking pictures and stuff and we heard it. It was so scary. Seriously."

Students said the police searched each person with a metal detector as they waited in lockdown for hours. Police began to allow students to leave the building classroom by classroom around 2:30 p.m.

Parents gathered outside were anxiously awaiting their children's release.

Rashell Thomas, 39, of North Philadelphia, said her daughter called her to say someone had fired a gun inside her school.

"She said she was afraid: 'Mom, can you come get me? Somebody's shooting in my school. I hear gunshots,' " Thomas recalled. "And I just dropped everything."

She said she was relieved when she saw the three students taken into custody.

"I was on the expressway, and there were so many things running though my head, because I watch the news a lot and I've seen a lot of shootings in these schools," she said. ". . . I'm glad that my daughter's OK."

awhelan@philly.com 215-854-2961 @aubreyjwhelan