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Harrisonville Aquatic Center locks down after boy brings rifle style nerf gun to pool Tuesday

From a distance, swimmers and lifeguards thought the gun was real

Harrisonville Aquatic Center locks down after boy brings rifle style nerf gun to pool Tuesday

From a distance, swimmers and lifeguards thought the gun was real

HAVE NOT TOLD US IF THEY BELIEVE FOLK PLAY IS INVOLVED. PEOPLE IN HARRISONVILLE ARE STILL SHAKEN UP AFTER WHAT THE CITY IS CALLING A FRIGHTENING SITUATION. KRIS: PEYTON HADLEY IS LIVE AT THE POOL WITH THAT STORY. >> PEOPLE ARE BACK IN THE POOL HERE AND LIFEGUARDS ARE BACK ON DUTY SO IT IS BUSINESS AS USUAL AT THE HARRISONVILLE AQUATIC CENTER BUT THIS TIME YESTERDAY IT LOOKED A LOT DIFFERENT. WHAT STARTED AS A NORMAL DAY AT THE POOL TURNED INTO A WORST-CASE SCENARIO. >> PEOPLE WERE RUNNING QUICKLY TO GET INSIDE. MOMS WERE RUNNING TO GET THEIR BABIES. >> LIFEGUARDS TOLD SWIMMERS THERE WAS IN ACTIVE SHOOTER. >> THIS ALL HAPPENED VERY QUICKLY. >> JUST OUTSIDE THE FENCE OF THE HARRISONVILLE POOL, A BOY WAS DRESSED IN ALL BLACK WEARING A KEVLAR VEST AND CARRYING WHAT LOOKED LIKE A RIFLE. >> WE RUSHED INSIDE. >> EVERYONE RAN AND HID INSIDE AS POLICE RESPONDED TO A CALL THEY HOPED WAS NOT TRUE. >> WHEN IT WAS DETERMINED THE GUN WAS A NERF GUN. FROM A DISTANCE IT IS HARD TO DISCERN THAT IS A NERF GUN VERSUS SOMETHING THAT CAN CAUSE HARM. >> DEFINITELY A SCARY EXPERIENCE ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE UNDER THE IMPRESSION THERE IS AN ACTIVE SHOOTER. >> THEY SAID THEY WOULD RATHER BE SAFE THAN SORRY. >> IF WE DON’T RESPOND PROPERLY, PEOPLE’S LIVES ARE AT STAKE. >> SWIMMERS ARE MAKING A CONSCIOUS RETURN AS THEY HOPE FOR MORE NORMAL DAYS AT THE POOL. NO ONE WAS HURT AND THE CITY SAID IT IS PROUD OF THE LIFEGUARD AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS RESPONSE TO WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN A MUCH SCARIER SITUATION.
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Harrisonville Aquatic Center locks down after boy brings rifle style nerf gun to pool Tuesday

From a distance, swimmers and lifeguards thought the gun was real

The Harrisonville Aquatic Center is back to business as usual after it went on lockdown Tuesday afternoon. According to the city, a boy dressed in all black and wearing a Kevlar vest walked along the fence of the pool holding a rifle-style Nerf gun. From a distance, swimmers and lifeguards thought the gun was real. Allison Scavo was at the pool on Tuesday with her son. She said they had just gotten inside when it turned to chaos. “All of a sudden lifeguards started yelling to get out of the pool,” Scavo said. “There was panic, and kids weren’t running as fast as they should have, so they just started saying there is a man outside with a gun.”She said everyone rushed inside one of the buildings at the aquatic center. Inside, people locked and barricaded the doors. Others consoled scared children.Police arrived minutes after receiving the call. “Once they arrived, they were able to locate the individual and it was determined that the gun that was called about was actually a Nerf gun,” Daniel Barnett, the Public Information Officer for Harrisonville, said. “They were able to take the individual into custody. Everyone was safe and there were no injuries.”He said the boy cooperated with the police and did not resist arrest. Barnett said he is proud of the way the staff at the pool and police department responded to the situation – saying it's important to respond to everything as if it is a real situation. “Our staff jumped on it quickly. As soon as a threat was realized, they moved to get everyone inside, get the doors shut and build up barricades,” he said. “We have to be more safe than sorry because at the end of the day, if we don’t respond properly, people’s lives are at stake and that’s not something we are going to leave up to chance.”He said it was a sigh of relief for everyone once officers realized it was a Nerf gun. This is what the Nerf gun looked like:“We are very grateful this wasn’t a situation where a person was out intending to do harm,” Barnett said. Charges have not been filed against the boy. The city is still investigating. No one was injured.

The Harrisonville Aquatic Center is back to business as usual after it went on lockdown Tuesday afternoon.

According to the city, a boy dressed in all black and wearing a Kevlar vest walked along the fence of the pool holding a rifle-style Nerf gun. From a distance, swimmers and lifeguards thought the gun was real.

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Allison Scavo was at the pool on Tuesday with her son. She said they had just gotten inside when it turned to chaos.

“All of a sudden lifeguards started yelling to get out of the pool,” Scavo said. “There was panic, and kids weren’t running as fast as they should have, so they just started saying there is a man outside with a gun.”

She said everyone rushed inside one of the buildings at the aquatic center. Inside, people locked and barricaded the doors. Others consoled scared children.

Police arrived minutes after receiving the call.

“Once they arrived, they were able to locate the individual and it was determined that the gun that was called about was actually a Nerf gun,” Daniel Barnett, the Public Information Officer for Harrisonville, said. “They were able to take the individual into custody. Everyone was safe and there were no injuries.”

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He said the boy cooperated with the police and did not resist arrest.

Barnett said he is proud of the way the staff at the pool and police department responded to the situation – saying it's important to respond to everything as if it is a real situation.

“Our staff jumped on it quickly. As soon as a threat was realized, they moved to get everyone inside, get the doors shut and build up barricades,” he said. “We have to be more safe than sorry because at the end of the day, if we don’t respond properly, people’s lives are at stake and that’s not something we are going to leave up to chance.”

He said it was a sigh of relief for everyone once officers realized it was a Nerf gun.

This is what the Nerf gun looked like:

nerf gun
Hearst OwnedHarrisonville Police Department
A stock photo of the Nerf gun that Harrisonville City officials say the boy brought to the pool. 

“We are very grateful this wasn’t a situation where a person was out intending to do harm,” Barnett said.

Charges have not been filed against the boy. The city is still investigating. No one was injured.