All Manassas Park City Schools were closed Monday after a weapon turned up in a secondary campus parking lot, prompting a districtwide closure while police tried to figure out how it got there. Officials reported no injuries, but the discovery was enough to cancel classes districtwide for the day.
According to WJLA, the school division said the closure was ordered out of an abundance of caution so the Manassas Park Police Department would have time to investigate the source of the weapon. As of the station's report, that investigation was still ongoing, and the original alert sent to families did not specify what type of weapon was recovered or offer further details about the circumstances surrounding the find.
Not every outlet described the find the same way. Patch, citing a report from InsideNoVA, said the weapon was a firearm and that the alert went out to parents around 7 a.m. Monday. That detail has not been confirmed elsewhere, and the discrepancy between the two accounts remains unresolved.
A Small District Feels the Impact Citywide
The closure affected every building in the Manassas Park City School District, which Patch notes encompasses just four schools — two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. Because the division is so compact, a single incident at one secondary campus was enough to shut down classes across the entire city rather than just one building. FOX 5 DC reported that school officials confirmed there were no injuries tied to the discovery.
Virginia law takes weapons on school grounds seriously, though it is not clear whether this particular case falls under that statute. Under Virginia Code § 18.2-308.1, knowingly possessing certain stun weapons, most knives longer than a small folding pocket blade, or other listed weapons on public school property can constitute a Class 1 misdemeanor.
A District With a Prior Scare
This is not the first time Manassas Park has had to shut its schools over a security concern. Back in December 2021, administrators closed school buildings and had students log on from home after learning of a potential threat, according to a separate report from Potomac Local. In that earlier incident, police identified the suspect as a juvenile Manassas Park High School student, and authorities did not list charges against them. That 2021 closure was a separate incident from Monday's parking lot discovery, but it reflects a division of roughly 3,500 students that has had to navigate campus security scares before.
For now, the central facts of Monday's closure remain limited: a weapon was found in a secondary school parking lot, no injuries were reported, and Manassas Park police continue to investigate how it got there. Families are left waiting for more details as the inquiry moves forward.
