There was an unfortunate incident at Bertie Middle School on Wednesday morning. For reasons we don’t know, a student took a handgun onto the school campus near Windsor.

Fortunately, staff members acted quickly and removed both the gun and the student from campus. Thankfully, the weapon wasn’t used and there was no one injured in the incident.

That hasn’t been the case in many instances throughout the United States. Too many times there have been guns taken on campuses that were used in the commission of deadly acts. Too many young people have lost their lives because of such incidents.

While the initial event was reportedly handled well and quickly, it was the decision of Bertie County Sheriff John Holley to lock down Bertie Middle School that may be the most impressive.

Even though there was no indication of another weapon, the sheriff and his staff took no chances with the lives of the children at Bertie Middle School, its staff or its visitors.

The decision to search the school and make sure there were no other weapons on campus is commendable. It was absolutely the right thing to do.

The mistake of assumption an easy one to make. It would have been easy for the school system or the sheriff to assume everything was under control and take no further action. Thankfully, they did not assume.

Bertie County Schools Superintendent Dr. Chip Zullinger was also supportive of the decision to lock down the school.

The good news is there were no other weapons found on the campus and everyone was returned to their normal duties without too much interruption. What little distraction there may have been was well worth it.

Sheriff Holley and his staff faced a tough situation Wednesday morning and thanks to their handling of it, students and staff at Bertie Middle School went home safely Wednesday afternoon.