A 15-year-old Montgomery County student suspected of bringing a gun to Northwood High School on Wednesday fled the campus before being taken into police custody, school and police officials said.

       The incident comes as the community debates the county’s recent removal of school-based police officers and followed a stabbing last week at nearby Montgomery Blair High School. On Wednesday, students and teachers at the Silver Spring school sheltered in place. Nearby Forest Knolls Elementary School was placed on lockdown. Both precautions had been lifted by early afternoon.

       Wp Get the full experience.Choose your plan ArrowRight

       The incident began after someone at Northwood received an anonymous tip the student might have come to the school with a gun.

       For first time in 19 years, Montgomery County schools set to reopen without police

       “The Northwood High School security team and administration immediately brought the student to the office for a self-search,” Principal Jonathan Garrick said in an email about the incident to parents. “Our search revealed two rounds of ammunition. The student then fled from the building without his belongings.”

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       School officials called the police. Within an hour, the student turned himself in to law enforcement, school officials said. He was not armed. But a police dog discovered a gun in an area off school property.

       It was too soon to say whether it was the student’s gun, said Shiera Goff, a police spokeswoman.

       She called the investigation “active and ongoing” and said “the appropriate charges are being determined.”

       Last week, police were called to Blair — less than two miles from Northwood — after a student allegedly stabbed a classmate in a school parking lot. That student, 16, was charged as an adult with attempted second-degree murder.

       The day after his arrest, a relative of that suspect — also a Blair student — was accused of coming to the school armed with a knife.

       He too was taken into police custody, officials said.

       A dark parking lot, an off-duty officer and the night one man saw his friends die

       A teenager was drowning. 911 sent help to the wrong place

       Letting Noah go: Md. officer’s parents channel grief to fight drunken driving