I'm Kimberly Glenn,
the communications director with
the Knox County Sheriff's Office.
I just want to update you on
what's taking place behind me
here at Powell High School.
Around 10:27 this morning,
a call came in from the school resource
officer saying that shots were heard.
Let me repeat that.
Shots were heard outside of the school,
not inside of the school.
Shots were heard outside of the school.
So of course, as a precaution,
the school goes on immediate
lockdown and then officers respond,
as you can see, behind me.
We have all of our Knox
County sheriff's officers.
KPD has assisted us in responding
as well all of the school resource
officers and school officers alike.
In addition,
the sheriff is here on scene along
with Chief deputy Line and Chief
Workman who is our Chief of operations.
So we have a lot of manpower on the ground.
It looks like a chaotic scene,
but in fact they are just controlling
the situation to make sure that all
the children are safe the school.
Faculty has done an excellent job
of getting the children secure.
I don't have any information about
where you can pick your children
up or when that will happen.
I can tell you that the school
is currently on lockdown until
the school is cleared.
Officers are clearing the surrounding
buildings, surrounding cars,
sitting in parking lots,
as you all experienced when
you when you got here.
You were emphasizing that the. Call back.
Why are you well,
when she called it in to dispatch,
she said Shaw, I've heard shots
in that outside the school area
because I think it's important for
parents to know their children are
safe and that there are unconfirmed
accounts of shots being fired.
So what we're saying is we don't
know that shots were actually fired.
We just have reports that someone
heard the shots being fired.
Like you said, don't
believe it was actually.
Correct that that is what
we believe right now.
I believe when she called it in,
she said I've heard shots outside
of the school in the area,
not on school property necessarily
and certainly not in the school.
So we want to make sure that everybody
that are the parents of the children
are clear and that the citizens of
Knox County are clear at this point.
This is unconfirmed.
We have no confirmation
of any shots being fired.
It was the call just came in
that shots were heard and.
As you can see,
as a precaution,
we take school security seriously.
Vehicle and.
I don't have any knowledge of any of that.
The sheriff will be on hand.
He's actually inside the school helping
to clear the school with officers.
Once the sheriff's able to come out,
then he'll have more information and I'm
sure he'll be happy to talk with you all.
At that point.
I just wanted to put everybody's
mind at ease because I know there's
a lot of things going around
on Facebook and social media,
and I wanted to give you guys the information
that it is unconfirmed at this time.
We don't have any factual knowledge of.
Starts actually being fired and
your children are safe.
What's your parents?
Some have come. I think I would just
remain calm and then the school.
I'm sure we'll get out and e-mail
or however they communicate with
the parents via text message,
whatever that, whatever that is,
and let them know where they can pick
their children up if they need to.
The most important thing you can do for
the officers here on the scene and for
the faculty and the students is just
to remain calm because we absolutely
have this situation under control.
Yes. Pacific.
Unfortunately, I don't know what's
blocked off in our officers were
blocking off various streets,
but there was a lot of radio traffic
and I I can't confirm that exactly.
It's all of the school.
All of the school property is on
complete lockdown. Yes, ma'am.
What's kind of happening now, it's.
They'll clear, they'll clear the building,
they'll clear the entire school,
which means every bit of the school.
And once that is done,
then they will decide what happens
at that point with the students.
Whether you know that'll be up to the school,
whether they dismiss or they just
go back to the school day is normal.
But once the building is cleared and
we're sure that there's not a threat,
an actual threat here,
then the Knox County Sheriff's Office job,
you know, will be completed here.
Other areas that might be.
Through. I don't know. I
know we have, you know,
a couple of private schools in the
area and there's some daycares,
so I'm assuming that they're probably
on lockdown as a precaution.
So before you try to go and
travel and pick your child up,
it might be a good idea to,
you know, call or or see whatever
their method of communication is,
whether they are actually on lockdown or not.
And I think it's also important to note,
if we're on lockdown,
if a school's on lockdown,
you're unable to go in and get
your child released at that time.