ELLICOTT CITY, Md — One parent said Thursday they got a call saying Howard High School was on lock down but they weren’t notified until hours after the initial incident now they are concerned about safety measures at the school.
RELATED: Howard High officials say no weapon was involved in incident
"People are bringing weapons into school people are repeat offenders for fighting all the time," said Michael Miliotis.
This is the disturbing video that’s been circulating online, it shows a few school employees and a school resources officer pinning a young man to the ground while one staff member is seen pulling his hair and punching him repeatedly in the head.
Miliotis was outraged after hearing about the incident. This happened Thursday inside the lunchroom at Howard High and another parent who didn’t want their identity revealed said they heard a rumor it was weapon on campus and they were frightened once they got an email saying the school was on lockdown.
"I automatically called the school and they said that it was on lockdown and I had asked them if a gentleman had a gun and they said they couldn’t share information with me," he said.
Howard school officials responded to what happened and sent a letter to parents part of which read:
"Rumors have circulated that a weapon was involved and we want to assure students, staff and families that this is not the case. The lockdown was not implemented as a result of a known or rumored weapon. However, to ease concerns of students, parents and staff who may have heard the rumor, additional security will be present at the school this afternoon for dismissal.”
"Its an issue of safety."
And although an email was sent to parents informing them of the issue , one parent says it wasn’t sent fast enough.
"This was about 12 o’clock it took the school two hours about 154 for them to send an email to all the parents notifying of the event that had happened," they said. "My daughter actually told me all the kids that were in the lunch room had to run out at the school because they didn’t know what to do next."
And now some parents are hoping the school modifies their policy on how fast they send out this type of information.
"It took for my daughter to email me in order for me to be notified when it should be the schools responsibility to notify not only myself but every parent."
And Miliotis agrees.
"That is always a very scary situation you wonder how you’re going to get your kids out of there when they’re going to be able to come out if your kid is actually involved if they’re hurt or not. A lot of things. You also worried about everybody else in there too," Miliotis said.
Due to the recent incidents involving violence at schools it has parents and students and staff concerned and they’re hoping the school continue to increase security to help prevent these types of incidents from happening.