Grenade Scare at Virginia Run Elementary

Some students at were temporarily evacuated from their classrooms Thursday after a student brought in what adminstrators described as "an inert training device" that looked like a grenade. 

Educators weren't immediately sure what the device was, so they took it outside the school, Principal Laraine Edwards said in a note sent to Virginia Run parents. They evacuated students out of the classrooms that were close to the item and called police. 

Here is what happened, according to Edwards:

Today, a primary student brought an inert training device, which looked like a grenade, to school. When we first discovered the item we were unsure of the status. We responded to this matter by taking the item outside the school. We contacted the Fairfax County Police Department and Fairfax County Public Schools Safety and Security. We moved students from the perimeter classrooms closest to the item and restricted the use of the main entrance. The police, the fire department, and school security responded to the matter and determined the item was harmless.

Please talk to your child this evening to make sure that he or she understands that the article found was not real but that the incident was, nevertheless, serious.