According to officials, a student at Mt. Vernon Middle School brought edibles to school and shared them with classmates. Several students and staff were taken to an area hospital as a precaution.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — Officials with the Mt. Vernon School District said 11 students in a Mt. Vernon Middle School class, along with staff, were taken to a hospital Friday afternoon after a student distributed edible gummies.
Fortville Chief of Police Patrick Bratton told the Daily Reporter his officers were investigating the situation as it was unfolding. Bratton noted his department was called by school officials late Friday afternoon after medics were called to assist with the transport of multiple students.
“Some kid brought the edibles to school, shared them with friends and, towards the end of the day, the kids had some adverse reactions,” Bratton said. “We’re looking into who did it and why.”
Reports of a massive first responder presence at Mt. Vernon Middle School started showing up on social media shortly after 3 p.m.
“There is a large first responder presence — both police and fire and medics — at Mt. Vernon Middle School, 1800 block of IN-234, Fortville — this includes the Fishers and Noblesville first response teams helping out with reports of multiple overdoses on edibles,” the post stated.
Officials with the Mt. Vernon School District sent out a message to parents around 3:30 p.m. stating, “Out of an abundance of caution, we are sending those students and staff to medical facilities via ambulances.”
Witnesses say they saw at least nine different ambulances arrive at the school while a district statement later confirmed that there were 11 middle school students who ingested edible gummies.
“All 11 students either went home with their parents or have been taken to the hospital and are receiving appropriate medical attention,” the statement said.
Bratton noted that, for anyone who has never had an edible gummy, there is more than a good chance a person would have an adverse or unusual reaction to it.
“They eat it and then a little while later they probably started freaking out and got a little scared or paranoid,” Bratton said.
Officials said that while an investigation is still underway, charges could be pending for the juvenile who handed out the edible gummies, or possibly adults the juvenile got the product from.
While some social media post stated there were mass causalities in the incident, district officials and law enforcement quickly squashed those rumors, saying those types of reports are not accurate in any way.
