Chattanooga police and Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputies rushed to Howard High school Thursday morning.
The reason: a robbery in progress a few blocks away involving 2 suspects.
One of the suspects got away, and started running in the direction of the school.
Howard Executive Principal Paul David Smith quickly took action.
"I didn't want to take any chances, so we immediately put the building in lockout, and lockdown was just to make sure that there were no intruders, and we covered every nook and cranny of this building."
For 2 and a half hours, administrators and law enforcement checked the building to make sure everything was okay.
In the wake of last month's deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut, Smith says local educators are on high alert.
"Here we are downtown, right on the edge of downtown, and we're in the inner city, and so, we can't say that we're immune to anything. And really, no school, be it inner city, urban, suburban or rural can say that they are immune to anything."
Luckily, Police never found a suspect on campus.
Howard's Principal knows you can't be prepared for everything that might happen in a school.
Paul David Smith says you just have to be alert, and do the best you can.
But he thinks a recent plan to arm teachers is the wrong approach.
"When I look at the number of teachers who have lost cell phones, lost keys and students have found them and said, 'Hey, here's your cell phone,' or, 'Here's your key.' Imagine a teacher losing their gun, and a student finding a gun. The last thing you want is more guns in schools."
Executive Principal Paul David Smith says the school just had a safety drill last month.
He says everyone worked together during this latest event to make sure the campus remained safe.
