CLOVIS, N.M. - A call about a possible weapon at a middle school prompted police to put armed officers on rooftops, close nearby streets and lock down the school. All over a giant burrito. <br /><br />Someone called authorities Thursday after seeing a boy carrying something long and wrapped into Marshall Junior High.<br /><br />The drama ended two hours later when the suspicious item was identified as a 30-inch burrito filled with steak, guacamole, lettuce, salsa and jalapenos and wrapped inside tin foil and a white T-shirt.<br /><br />"I didn't know whether to laugh or cry," school Principal Diana Russell said.<br /><br />State police, Clovis police and the Curry County Sheriff's Department arrived at the school shortly after 8:30 a.m. They searched the premises and determined there was no immediate danger.<br /><br />In the meantime, more than 30 parents, alerted by a radio report, descended on the school. Visibly shaken, they gathered around in a semi-circle, straining their necks, awaiting news.<br /><br />"There needs to be security before the kids walk through the door," said Heather Black, whose son attends the school.<br /><br />After the lockdown was lifted but before the burrito was identified as the culprit, parents pulled 75 students out of school, Russell said.<br /><br />Russell said the mystery was solved after she brought everyone in the school together in the auditorium to explain what was going on.<br /><br />"The kid was sitting there as I'm describing this (report of a student with a suspicious package) and he's thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, they're talking about my burrito.'"<br /><br />Afterward, eighth-grader Michael Morrissey approached her.<br /><br />"He said, 'I think I'm the person they saw,'" Russell said.<br /><br />The burrito was part of Morrissey's extra-credit assignment to create commercial advertising for a product.<br /><br />"We had to make up a product and it could have been anything. I made up a restaurant that specialized in oddly large burritos," Morrissey said.<br /><br />After students heard the description of what police were looking for, he and his friends began to make the connection. He then took the burrito to the office.<br /><br />"The police saw it and everyone just started laughing. It was a laughter of relief," Morrissey said.<br /><br />"Oh, and I have a new nickname now. It's Burrito Boy."
