Shots Fired Sparks More Security at CHS Home Football Games

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Columbus High School Football fans will be seeing a bigger police presence at the next two Falcon home games.

The increased security comes after shots were fired at the end of the CHS Football game this past Friday night.

The incident reportedly started in the parking lot with an argument and two shots were fired into the ground.

There were several Columbus Police Officers and school resource officers patrolling the area at the time the shots were fired.

The district’s chief resource officer says officers saw the situation unfolding and were able to react and get it under control quickly.

In the end, a West Point man was arrested, and more arrests are possible.

This scene is quieter than it was Friday night, as Columbus High battled it out to an overtime win against Desoto Central.

The gunshots fired in the parking lot, capped off an unforgettable CHS Homecoming and also sparked a call for increased security at home football games.

“The school district pays for x amount of officers and then the city furnishes x amount of officers, so those same officers will be there, plus five additional officers will be there, from say thirty minutes prior to game time, until the premises is clear at the conclusion of the ball game,” says Mayor Robert Smith.

Those extra officers will help patrol the last two home games.

Mayor Robert Smith says he doesn’t want the unfortunate situation to scare fans away from Falcon Field.

“We don’t want this one incident to deter the citizens from coming and supporting our kids and coming and supporting the school and the football program. It’s an unfortunate incident, but we can assure you that our number one priority is safety.”

Superintendent Dr. Philip Hickman says when things like this happen, the plan is to be proactive and reactive.

“You can’t plan for everything. We try to plan for every situation that we can think of and we have protocols in place when things happen, but no one wants to predict or plan that anyone would come to an event for kids and will either cause problems or have a weapon.”

The Columbus Municipal School District’s Chief Resource Officer says officers followed protocol Friday night and were able to contain the situation within minutes.

Chief Doran Johnson also says the goal is to maintain safety for everyone, which is why officers are analyzing what they did that night, to see if there is anything they can improve upon.

“See if there is something that we can do different and as far as I’m concerned, we’ve done basically what we were suppose to do, what our protocol calls us and we might increase some things, as far as just making sure we’re keeping a more closer, tighter check on our parking lot and making sure that there’s no people kind of hanging out there, especially as we prepare to exit our crowd out.”

The case is under investigation by the Columbus Police Department.

The people involved were not students or from the area.

Devonte Harris of West Point has been charged with possession of a firearm on school property in the incident.