INDIANAPOLIS, IN (CBS/WISH) -- School leaders in Lawrence, Indiana have called in reinforcements, to be at Lawrence Central High School tomorrow. It's in response to a pepper spray incident at the school that led to fights between students.
There will be police officers patrolling the halls and parking lots at Lawrence Central High School. Following Wednesday's incident, 15-students had to be taken to area hospitals after breathing in the pepper spray. All are expected to be just fine.
Just after 2:15 p.m Lawrence Police and IMPD officers rushed to Lawrence Central High School. Junior Daniel Roberts says, "Somebody had sprayed mace throughout the science hallway and everybody started inhaling it and started coughing."
The fumes forced school officials to evacuate the 1,500 students. Many of them had to wait outside while emergency officials checked air levels inside the building.
During the mayhem, several fights broke out. Then the rain moved in. Mary Louise Bewley with Lawrence Township Schools says, "Brought the kids in; put them in the gymnasium, another scuffle broke out. There was more pepper spray so we released the kids back outside."
Thomas Ward is a Freshman. He took this cell phone video inside the gym. He says, "They had cops everywhere."
Not long before the cops arrived in the gym, Ward says there was chaos everywhere. He says, "There were about three fights. Someone fainted."
Parents showed up to the scene worried about their children. Tamara Ward's son was in the middle of the disturbance. She says, "It's scary; he doesn't want to come back to school and I have another daughter that was locked inside the gym and she was scared."
School leaders hope parents will help them avoid a repeat of what happened today. Bewley says, "We're asking parents to talk to their kids tonight; talk to them about appropriate behavior."
All afterschool activities were canceled Wednesday afternoon. In the school's handbook, it says nothing about pepper spray, however it does point out that students will be expelled for having live rounds of ammunition.
As for the students involved in the fights, they could also face expulsion.