PROCTOR, MINN. - St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay has confirmed that police responded to Proctor High School after reports of a person with a gun inside the building Wednesday evening.

However, the object that witnesses feared was a gun turned out not to be one, confirmed via video, said Ramsay and Proctor Police Chief Kent Gaidis. Proctor Superintendent Kerry Juntunen said it was a broken computer piece about the size of a hand that a student was banging on lockers. It made another student suspicious, and they notified an employee.

"Everyone did what they were trained to do," he said.

No one was injured and only a small number of students were in the building at the time of the incident, reported about 4:30 p.m. The school is at 131 9th Av. in Proctor, just outside of Duluth.

Gaidis said officers had people shelter in place. The suspect, a minor, was found outside the school and was being questioned Wednesday night.

Aaron Moyer's son was in the school preparing for an upcoming culinary competition at the time. "It was the worst drive of my life to get here," Moyer said, shortly before reuniting with his son in the parking lot.

A large police presence surrounded the school, which includes a middle school, with mutual aid from nearby Hermantown, Duluth, University of Minnesota Duluth police and the St. Louis and Carlton County sheriff's offices.