Police arrested a man carrying a replica gun inside St. Louis Park Senior High School at about 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9.

The man entered through a side door - near the high school auditorium - that students working on a project had propped open, said Sara Thompson, St. Louis Park School District communications specialist. All school doors are usually locked during school hours.

After entering the school, Thompson said, the man proceeded toward the district office, where Principal Rob Metz saw him holding a replica gun. Metz asked him to hand it over, and the intruder readily turned it over.

A police liaison officer working at the school arrived and arrested the man immediately without incident.

"There wasn't a struggle [or] a fight," Thompson said. "No one was in danger."

The man did not point the imitation weapon at anyone or make any threats, Thompson said.

Several students observed the man holding the replica gun and were in the process of notifying school officials when Metz confronted him. The school did not go into lockdown mode, Thompson said, because the incident was resolved quickly.

Metz sent an e-mail to parents and guardians about the situation by 11 a.m., Thompson said. The statement also appeared on the high school's website, www.slpschools.org.

The man arrested had asked a teacher for directions to the school office, at which point several students thought they saw him carrying a gun, Metz said in the statement to parents.

"School security procedures were followed and the adult male was arrested immediately and without incident by the school liaison officer and removed from the Senior High School," Metz explained further in the statement. "The adult male was found to be carrying a replica gun."

The school used an automated telephone system to communicate the situation with parents and guardians by about 11:30 a.m., Thompson said. Police are investigating.

The man is rumored to have traveled to the office seeking a transcript and to have been carrying marijuana, but Thompson said she could not confirm that.

"In terms of the 'why?' to the story, that's really the missing piece at this point," Thompson said. "No one really knows why."

Regarding the open door, she said, "this incident, like anything else that would happen, prompts us to say what are our procedures - are they being followed and how can they be improved? We learn, we grow, we do our very best to stay on best practices."

She commended staff for their response to the situation.

"It's a challenging situation for everybody, and everyone handled it with grace," Thompson said.

Thompson said the man has been held in custody pending charges.

Police could not be reached immediately for comment.

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