A middle school was briefly placed in lockdown after an AI detection system misidentified a student holding a clarinet as a dangerous weapon.
Lawton Chiles Middle School in Oviedo went into lockdown on the morning of December 9 after the system detected what it believed was a weapon in one of the school’s hallways.
According to Seminole County Public Schools (via WKMG), the alert was triggered when a student was seen on camera holding a musical instrument like a firearm, prompting the system to automatically initiate a Code Red response.
Instrument pose triggers automated Code Red
In a message sent to families, principal Dr Melissa Laudani said the student was walking through the hallway with a clarinet and holding it in a way that caused the automated system to classify it as a possible weapon.
Oviedo police also released a statement on its Facebook page, calling the code red a “precaution.”
Laudani said that while there was never an actual threat to campus, the system functioned as designed by reacting to what it interpreted as a dangerous situation.
“We have multiple layers of school safety, including an automated system that detects potential threats. A student was walking in the hallway, holding a musical instrument as if it were a weapon, which triggered the Code Red to activate,” Laudani said.
The Code Red was lifted once staff and law enforcement confirmed there was no gun and that the object in question was a band instrument.
“While there was no threat to campus, I’d like to ask you to speak with your student about the dangers of pretending to have a weapon on a school campus,” Laudani added.
