![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/NJCGJAYXPFAVNMKQ2MABMYHA3I.jpeg\")
The Waynesboro Police Department is managing an \u201cemergency\u201d situation Wednesday morning at Westwood Hills Elementary School, the division announced. The Augusta County Sheriff\u2019s Office is reporting the incident at Westwood Elementary School is \u201ccontained and secured at this time\u201d as of 10:23 a.m.(WHSV)Waynesboro lockdown<\/p>\n
As a precautionary measure, WPS said, all other public schools in the city were placed on lockdown just before noon. As of 12:30 p.m., the lockdown was lifted.<\/p>\n
WPS said parents who want to pick up their students can now access the schools. Meanwhile, reunification of Westwood students and families has been WPS\u2019 priority. As of 12:30 p.m., all students from Westwood were released to their parents and guardians, WPS said.<\/p>\n
Law enforcement is at all locations \u201cout of an abundance of caution,\u201d WPS said. Parents at schools are asked to follow the directions of school staff and law enforcement. All students, staff and teachers are safe, WPS added.<\/p>\n
Reunification details<\/p>\n
WPS is coordinating reunification between students and families at Westminster Presbyterian Church located at 1904 Mount Vernon Street in Waynesboro. This will be where children are released to their parents or authorized guardians, ACSO said. <\/p>\n
Families are staging in the lower fellowship hall, WPS said. WPS instructed families to enter where signs say \u201centry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Augusta Health impacts<\/p>\n
Augusta Health announced the hospital is fully operational and is still providing patient care on Wednesday. Augusta Health\u2019s statement classified the incident as a \u201cshooting in our community,\u201d but did not share further details about the incident due to privacy policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs your community hospital, we remain committed to caring for and supporting our neighbors in their time of need,\u201d the Augusta Health statement reads.<\/p>\n
Augusta County schools on Secure<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, schools in Stuarts Draft and the Wilson Complex were placed in a code \u201csecure\u201d Wednesday around 9:40 a.m., according to a release from the Augusta County School Board. ACPS confirmed the Augusta County Sheriff\u2019s Office ordered the secure as a precaution as reports of the emergency in Waynesboro circulated. A code Secure means students remain inside and instruction continues, the school board said.<\/p>\n
At 11:05 a.m., ACSO determined all schools in the Wilson and Stuarts Draft areas could return to normal school activities. The code Secure was lifted at that time, the school board said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to emphasize that the code Secure was directed out of an abundance of caution, and the issue in Waynesboro was not directly related to our school division,\u201d the school board said in a release. \u201cWe appreciate the assistance of ACSO and the quick action taken by our staff and students. Please join us supporting our sister school division at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spanberger speaks on situation<\/p>\n
Gov. Abigail Spanberger shared the following statement on Facebook as the situation develops.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am monitoring the emergency at Westwood Hills Elementary School this morning. My heart is with these young students, their parents and families, and the teachers and staff at the school. Thank you to the first responders who are assisting at the scene. <\/p>\n
\u201cAugusta County and Waynesboro law enforcement and schools are continuing to provide updated guidance to community members.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a developing story. WHSV has crews in the area to learn more. As we can verify more information, we\u2019ll report the latest details on air and online.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WHSV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WAYNESBORO, Va. (WHSV) – Westwood Hills Elementary School was evacuated Wednesday morning as personnel respond to an \u201cemergency\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24,23770,23774,23779,23775,23771,23773,23778,23776,23772,23777],"class_list":["post-834353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-whsv","tag-whsv-3","tag-whsv-3-news","tag-whsv-news","tag-whsv-tv","tag-whsv-tv-3","tag-whsv-tv-3-news","tag-whsv-tv-news","tag-whsv-tv3","tag-whsv-tv3-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}