POTSDAM – Potsdam High School was locked down this morning to deal with an allegedly disruptive student and a BB pistol was reportedly found in a student's backpack.

However, the pistol was not within reach of the student during the incident, according to Superintendent Pat Brady.

“Administrators took action in order to keep students and staff safe” while the student, who was said to be disrupting the main office, was removed by Potsdam police, Brady said.

As school personnel sought to maintain control during the incident, staff in a classroom found his backpack with a BB pistol inside. The pistol was turned over to police.

The unidentified student, a male minor, was in “a verbal altercation with another student and had taken an aggressive attitude with administrators, and there was concern it could escalate into a possibly violent incident. The Potsdam Police Department was called to deal with the incident,” and the student was taken into police custody.

The pistol had not been taken out of the backpack nor used to threaten anyone, and was not part of the initial incident, Brady said. He said it was not clear why the student had brought the pistol to school.

The school was locked down between about 11:20 and 11:30 a.m.

“The police were able to calm the situation down and remove the student from the school campus,” Brady said.

The lockdown went “according to plan,” he said.

As for the BB pistol, Brady said, “It’s a serious offense to bring a gun of any type to a school. The student will be disciplined under the school code of conduct” outside of any police action.