'Knife crime terrifies me': Residents speak out after West Midlands school placed in lockdown and two boys, 14, arrested
"I don't feel safe, I don't go out at night unless I'm with somebody".
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Those are the words of a resident living near Leasowes High School in Halesowen, where pupils were placed in lockdown on Thursday afternoon after people were reported outside carrying knives.
Police were called to the Kent Road school just after 3pm and arrested two boys, aged 14, in the nearby Hollies Road on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapon. Officers also recovered a machete.
Pupils returned to the secondary school as normal on Friday morning, having been placed in lockdown conditions for 45 minutes the previous afternoon.
Though it was business as usual at the school, residents described feeling "shocked" about what had happened just a stone throw away from their homes.
One woman, who has lived near to the school for the past five years, said the area was "starting to go downhill" and she fears for her safety at night.
She told the Express & Star: "I was really shocked. There were crowds of people outside, but I didn't think anything really, I thought there was just something on at the school.
"When they said it was knife crime I thought it is a bit close to home. I'm very concerned [about knife crime], I live on my own as well so I feel very vulnerable.
