FAIRMONT – Marion County Schools scrambled just as quickly as Fairmont Police during the hunt for an alleged gunman Monday.
“This was in our largest attendance area,” the district’s superintendent Donna Heston said, “so we really appreciated the collaboration with our local authorities.”
It began that morning on Spence Street near the city’s Bellview neighborhood, where police said Antonio Marquise Evans exchanged gunfire with one man while hitting another. That man’s injuries were nonlife-threatening, police said.
Evans, meanwhile, was arrested Tuesday morning and charged with attempted murder and the use of a firearm during the commission of a felony, police said.
Outstanding felony warrants were also out for arson and destruction of property related to the torching of a vehicle last month, authorities added.
He is now lodged at North Central Regional Jail with bond set at $1 million – but the day before, the 29-year-old suspect was on the run with a rifle and “considered dangerous,” police said.
Which prompted Heston to call for the Code Yellow at West Fairmont Middle School, Watson Elementary, Barrackville Elementary/Middle, Jayenne Elementary and Fairmont Senior High.
Hallways were cleared. Any students on the playground for recess or in the cafeteria for lunch were delivered back to their classrooms – which were then locked, Heston said.
“The rooms were locked, but we still had instruction,” she said.
A number of buses with students were also on the road, the superintendent said, with the district’s Central Office communicating with drivers the whole time.
Parents were also notified by telephone and via social media, Heston said.
In the district’s response model, a Code Yellow falls just below a Code Orange, a bomb threat, and a Code Red, which is a full lockdown.
There were roughly 2,000 students affected, Heston said – and that’s not counting teachers, aides and other service personnel.
“That’s a big responsibility,” she said, “but a lot of things were in place.”
Police Chief Steve Shine didn’t offer immediate comment Tuesday, saying the incident remains under investigation.
