WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. – A false alarm at a high school football game that featured West Bloomfield and Cass Tech last Friday had everyone who attended in a frenzy.
Some people assumed what they heard were gunshots.
“There was a small group of individuals that were spectators,” said West Bloomfield Deputy Chief Curt Lawson. “They got spooked, and they started moving to the north end of the football field. Other spectators saw this as well as football players, then you had a large group of people that were kind of moving to the north end of the stadium, and many of them didn’t know why.”
The rumor that spread quickly was that shots had been fired, but it was not, as it was just a car that had backfired. The other rumor was a fight had broken out, but that was also not true.
The district knew the situation would be a big, well-attended game and had staffed accordingly, so there were plenty of officers and school staff on hand.
It took less than 10 minutes to quell the rising panic. Lawson credits both West Bloomfield schools personnel and officers with maintaining calm to take the fear factor down.
“I think what we’ve seen in the last few years is a number of incidents at school districts all over the country,” Lawson said. “There’s that underlying nervousness parents, students, and school officials have, and we all need to work together and work through this.”
