Posted at: 09/18/2009 10:17 PM | KSAX.com
By: LUKE GARRISON
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Andover Student Brings Gun to School

Parents of Andover High School students got an unnerving message Friday as a student brought a gun into the high school, but some say the message did not come in time.

The news came over the phone as an automated message from the high school's principal. While parents appreciated being informed, many were frustrated they did not get the message earlier in the week or even earlier in the day.

Anoka County Sheriff deputies say the actual incident happened on Monday, but nobody was notified of it until Friday. "That's really scary and I wish I would've known something about it," said Chelsea Vasquez from Andover.

It is unclear whether anyone at the school realized the student had a gun. "We were informed by police that they found a weapon at a student's home and through the course of the police investigation the student was at school with that weapon," said Brett Johnson, Anoka-Hennepin School District.

The school district says they would have notified parents earlier had they received official confirmation regarding the incident earlier, but that reasoning is not sitting well with the school's parents.

"If they bring it into the school, something should be done immediately and parents should be notified immediately," said Lisa Dorn from Andover.

By the time parents received the message from the principal, the school was already closed for the weekend. Parents said they had trouble getting answers to their questions. The district said it tried to get the message out as quickly as possible after getting all the facts confirmed.