#8 Portland Oregon Parkrose High School Gun Scare Hoax Crisis Actors

Video Transcript:

And that's where parents have been told to wait for their students as they get off the bus. And you can see Jennifer there. She is surrounded by parents. Jennifer, what can you tell us from there? Well, the mood is improving as these buses start to arrive here at the old Kmart off Northeast Sandy. And parents are waiting for their students names to be called. We are behind a certain line here as students come in there approaching those white tents. Along with parents and they're being reunited and a lot of parents are very relieved and happy. Again, the mood has lifted a little bit because the waiting anticipation was really hard. And I have a couple of parents here with me now. Desiree agreed to talk to us. Tell me about this process. You're waiting for your student. What's happening right now? It's been a pretty worrisome process. I got a phone call from my daughter that there was a shooting. She was in a classroom and a closet. So of course, I rushed down here. And right now, I'm just waiting for them. They're busing the kids from the school over here to Kmart and they're releasing them one bus at a time, calling the students by name and the parent has to check the student out basically. So they know that parent is with child before they let us leave. OK, make sense. How many students are going to come through here? How many students are in your child's class? A lot. Oh, it's a whole lot of kids. And right now, both schools, the middle school and the high school, we're on lockdown. So they're going to be having to do both schools. But right now, they're focused on the high school and getting the kids out of the school. All right, tell me a little bit about your daughter's experience. Pretty emotional right now as parents are reunited. But did she text you or did she social, get you on social media to tell you what was going on? Yeah, she actually faced time on Snapchat and said, mom, there's a shooting at the school. But my daughter placed so many pranks that at first I thought it was a joke. And then something in her voice just kind of told me that it was real. And I grabbed my keys, my phone, and ran out the door. Yeah, in a closet. Was she in there with other students? Did the teacher get them in the closet? Did she tell you about that? Did she have time? She didn't necessarily go into details of how she just said that she heard the shot. There was a shooting. She saw the coach tackle the person. And then everybody was rushed into wherever their quarters to stay safe. Wow. What did she say about that? Was she scared that she run? My daughter is one where she doesn't process things like right at the moment. So she was scared. But then I think it was surreal to her. You see it on TV. But for it to be your life and your school with your friends, I think it's a whole different thing. Did she say it all how the coach tackled the man? No, she didn't go into detail on that. She said that he just reached for the shotgun and then somehow tackled the young man to save him, to save everybody. So I can't thank the man enough that got the gun away from that boy, to save my child as well as all these others. Did she know the person with the gun? I don't think that she knew them personally, maybe in passing. Wow, that's just like you said, surreal. Did she find the closet on her own or did teachers kind of heard the kids? Maybe you don't know that. I don't know if she told you. I'm pretty sure that the teacher pushed her into the room and I'm not sure how she got to the closet. But I know that my cousin was hiding in a closet. There were kids hiding wherever they felt safe at the time to stay out of the way, I believe. Geez. Now that you're here in the parking lot, you know the next steps. Is that give you a little relief? It does actually, to know that my child is safe, to know that she's coming home unharmed, to know that her friends are safe and that even as unfortunate as it is that there was a shooting by the grace of God, nobody was hurting this one. So I'm very thankful for that and I believe that we're all blessed for that. Truly blessed. Truly blessed. Yeah. I know you're feeling you've been kind of quiet over there. I mean, for me, it's just a so real moment. You know, just like she said, I see them TV in the news, movies and I just couldn't believe my daughter is actually, my kids is going through this. So I just rushed here, got a phone call, seeing turn to the news and once I've seen it with the school, I was just left. So how does it feel with the buses rolling in? Is it a sense of relief for you as well? Yes. Yes, totally. What do you have planned for the weekend? I mean, I'm sure it's going to be some intense relaxation family time after you reunite. Honestly, my mom just passed, so I'm just going to be chilling. Just keep my kids close and promise tomorrow so I'm trying to get her ready for that and stay on. How, this is a question that I'm sure many parents are kind of thinking of as they wait. How are you going to talk to your child about this? Because this is a tough issue. It might require some therapy, you know, for some kids or some special conversations. Are you thinking about that and are you going to sit down, spend some time? I think that for me, I'm going to try to let my daughter process it the best that she can right now and then have a discussion. Right now, she just wants to go home and go to bed. I think that this is when the process is going to come in and this is when it's going to really hit her. Like, oh my god, this just happens. I'm going to let her process it to the best of her ability before I try to push her into anything. But just explain to her that, unfortunately, people go through things and they don't necessarily know how to handle them. I just thank God that nobody was hurt and that she's still alive to graduate and to walk across that stage next month. Wow. Yeah. All right. Thank you much. You guys were very cool to come and talk to me. We appreciate it. I know there's a lot of anticipation here, so I can't wait for you guys to reunite. We'll probably be there to catch those special moments. Thanks for talking with us. So as you just heard from Desiree, many parents here just feeling a sense of relief waiting for those kids to get off the bus. So they've been rolling in. But as she said, it is a process. There's a lot of kids in the high school and the middle school. So it's taking some time to get everybody checked in, reunited with their families, and then the decompression begins and the stories about what happened and the shared experiences with students as well. I'm sure that they are talking amongst each other and kind of talking about their experience experiences. So it's going to be a long road ahead for students to talk about this and maybe even get through some traumatic experiences. So parents will have a lot to think about and discuss with their students after they are reunited. And we'll bring you another update here coming up in just a little bit. I'm going to toss it back to you in the studio. And prom, as she said, supposed to be tomorrow. Graduation, just a matter of weeks. Parents are supposed to be kids, but again, not allowed to be kids.