SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - A former student detained after illegally entering a northwest Indiana high school is facing charges after ammunition, a ski mask and binoculars were found in his backpack, according to police.
About 10 a.m. Wednesday, 19-year-old DaiJon Brown, a former Portage High School student, entered the school at 6450 U.S. 6 and spoke to a former teacher, according to Portage police.
After meeting Brown at a side door, the teacher “realized the subject was not acting right … and sent the subject on his way,” a statement from police said.
Less than an hour later, Brown snuck back into the building by following a vocational student, police said. He went upstairs and was “confronted by a teacher and escorted to the office,” police said.
The Portage High School Resource Officer was called after Brown said he had “ammunition in his back pack, but no weapon,” police said.
The backpack was found to contain hundreds of rounds of ammunition, including several different caliber bullets, as well as shotgun shells, police said. It also contained gloves, a ski mask and binoculars.
Brown, a 2016 graduate of the school, “claimed to be under the influence of LSD so he was taken to the local hospital and medically cleared,” police said.
After his release, he was taken to the Porter County Jail charged with a felony count of trespassing, and misdemeanor counts of public intoxication and false informing, police said.
He told police he was a student at IUPUI, police said, but the school had no record of him currently attending.
No one was injured in the incident, and parents were notified Wednesday afternoon via automated phone calls.
“The system worked as it should,” police chief Troy Williams said in a statement on the department’s Facebook page. “An unauthorized subject gained entry and was confronted by staff and escorted to the office where he was ultimately arrested.
“We ask a lot of our educators and school staff; not only to educate our children but also remain vigilant to what is going on around them. They did what they were supposed to do and no one was injured,” Williams said.