A discussion on Facebook Tuesday morning escalated to the threat of the use of a gun and a lockdown at Ell-Saline Middle-High School.

Saline County Sheriff’s Captain Roger Soldan said chat back and forth on Facebook between several students about a fight after school concerned a student when the chat turned to a threat to bring a gun to school to shoot. A picture of a gun was placed in the chat.

Soldan said a student contacted Deputy Dave Lanning, the School Resource Officer at Ell-Saline, who worked with school administrators and contacted Soldan for additional deputies to provide extra security at the school. The lockdown began around 10 a.m. and lasted about an hour.

18-year-old Joshua K. Downey of Tescott was arrested by Ottawa County authorities at his home for allegedly making the threat of taking the gun to school.

Soldan said a search warrant was used to search Downey’s home, but no gun that matched the picture posted was found.

There were weapons in the home that belong to Downey’s step-father, but they were not seized.

Downey was booked into the Saline County Jail on eight counts of aggravated criminal threats. Downey is not a student at Ell-Saline.