A gender reveal party triggered at least two Tennessee schools to lock down after an expecting father shot off his gun in celebration.
“Rumors of an active shooter at local school are incorrect,” the Murfreesboro Police Department posted on Twitter.
The incident unfolded Wednesday afternoon in Rutherford County when a resident of the area heard gunshots and someone scream. The person called 911, and due to the gunshots being so close to multiple schools, officials put them on lockdown.
The lockdown orders at Oakland High and Middle schools were both quickly lifted, however, after police discovered the gunshots were from a jubilant father finding out he and the child’s mother are having a boy.
“It was found to be expectant parents making a gender revealing phone call to out of county family members,” the police department reported. “During the phone call the expectant father stepped outside and fired celebratory rounds from a handgun into the air and the expectant mother screamed out of excitement of the news of a baby boy.”
The father was cited with unlawful discharging of a firearm inside the city limits.
The incident comes as the trend of gender reveal parties continues sweeping the country, but they have not always ended in jubilation.
In California, a couple was charged with one felony count of involuntary manslaughter, along with other felony and misdemeanor counts, in July stemming from their gender reveal party that sparked a Southern California wildfire in 2020.
A similar incident unfolded in Canada this year when an explosive device set off a small wildfire during a gender reveal party in northern Alberta. The couple, in that case, was fined $500 by authorities.