11-Year-old Arrested for Bringing BB Gun to School in Monroe
By: John Walton
Updated: December 20, 2012
MONROE -- An 11-year-old student at Swayze Elementary school is in trouble after bringing a BB gun to school on Tuesday.
"It was a surprise to a degree but nowadays we have so many different incidents happening at our schools," said Dr. Bob Webber, Ouachita Parish Schools Superintendent.
Ouachita Parish Sheriff Deputies tell us the BB gun is CO-2 operated and shoots .177 caliber BB's.
Police say school leaders learned from other children at the school that the student brought the BB gun.
OPSO said teachers quickly took the BB gun away from the student and called OPSO -- who was already in the area because of the heightened surveillance this week.
"We said so many times, we do have to take every case seriously," said Webber. "We can't decide between it being a prank or them really wanting to hurt someone."
The student was arrested and charged with carrying a weapon on campus. He was later taken to Green Oaks Detention Center.
"A weapon at school is gonna be a situation where we call the police, where we recommend expulsion for that child, and nowadays, regardless of age," said Webber.
Investigators with OPSO say the student's intention was not to harm students, but to scare another student.
"A BB pistol could hurt someone, could certainly put an eye out, or something like that and could certainly scare someone," Webber said.
Dr. Webber encourages parents to talk to children about incidents like this -- even toy guns or pocket knives are unacceptable.
"Nowadays, anything like that could be considered a weapon and could result in their children being arrested."
But he says the conversation with kids shouldn't stop there.
"About things that they might say at school, about making threats, even if they are just kidding," Webber said.
The school day at Swayze and other schools across the district was not impacted by this incident.
OPSO say they will continue to have a presence on school campuses, especially after what happened last week in CT.
"Our job is to protect students. The teacher acted quickly, luckily this is all the incident was. We will do our best to prevent any other incidents from happening" said Major Jason Pleasant with OPSO.
"It was a surprise to a degree but nowadays we have so many different incidents happening at our schools," said Dr. Bob Webber, Ouachita Parish Schools Superintendent.
Ouachita Parish Sheriff Deputies tell us the BB gun is CO-2 operated and shoots .177 caliber BB's.
Police say school leaders learned from other children at the school that the student brought the BB gun.
OPSO said teachers quickly took the BB gun away from the student and called OPSO -- who was already in the area because of the heightened surveillance this week.
"We said so many times, we do have to take every case seriously," said Webber. "We can't decide between it being a prank or them really wanting to hurt someone."
The student was arrested and charged with carrying a weapon on campus. He was later taken to Green Oaks Detention Center.
"A weapon at school is gonna be a situation where we call the police, where we recommend expulsion for that child, and nowadays, regardless of age," said Webber.
Investigators with OPSO say the student's intention was not to harm students, but to scare another student.
"A BB pistol could hurt someone, could certainly put an eye out, or something like that and could certainly scare someone," Webber said.
Dr. Webber encourages parents to talk to children about incidents like this -- even toy guns or pocket knives are unacceptable.
"Nowadays, anything like that could be considered a weapon and could result in their children being arrested."
But he says the conversation with kids shouldn't stop there.
"About things that they might say at school, about making threats, even if they are just kidding," Webber said.
The school day at Swayze and other schools across the district was not impacted by this incident.
OPSO say they will continue to have a presence on school campuses, especially after what happened last week in CT.
"Our job is to protect students. The teacher acted quickly, luckily this is all the incident was. We will do our best to prevent any other incidents from happening" said Major Jason Pleasant with OPSO.
