Update: 2:12 pm

Albemarle High School was on lockdown Monday morning after police detained former Albemarle student, Matthew Carpenter (’14) as he attempted to enter the building. Carpenter was dressed in camouflage and visibly bearing a knife.

Around 8:25 am, Assistant Principal Tireese Lewis approached Carpenter before he reached the main office. Lewis called the police, who promptly took Carpenter into custody. The school immediately went into lockdown before police began to evacuate the building.

Carpenter had texted his former teacher, Charlotte Wood, and asked if he could visit her class on Monday. Wood agreed, and sources said that he spent the night on campus, but this rumor has not been officially confirmed.

Police transferred students from the building and took them to Jack Jouett Middle School and Greer Elementary while officers and bomb dogs did a complete sweep of the school. Nothing of suspicion was found.

“Everybody just handled this so well. You never know how you’re going to handle this situation, unfortunately, until it happens,” principal Jay Thomas said.

“The staffs at Jouett and Greer were wonderful. That’s one of our plans for when we have to do something like this, to get [students] to a safe place,” Thomas said. “Bus transportation came over to help with that.”

As the investigation continues, more information will be released including the potential charges against Carpenter.