Boy, 13, arrested in another school-gun case

A 13-year-old boy was arrested Friday after students at O'Callaghan Middle School reported that he had showed off a handgun while on campus, Clark County School District Police said.

The boy, a former student at O'Callaghan and J.D. Smith middle schools, had stolen his parents' .40-caliber Glock semiautomatic handgun and had taken it to the campus, at 1450 Radwick Drive, about 2:30 p.m. while school was in session, school police said.

After showing the gun to several students, the boy left the campus, school police Sgt. Ken Young said.

"The students immediately went and told the principal," Young said.

The principal called school police officers, who notified the boy's parents, Young said.

The parents checked their house and found that their handgun, which they told police was loaded, was missing, he said.

Metro Police were called to help search for the boy, Young said. Officers found him near the school on the street near Beesley Drive and Owens Avenue. He no longer had the gun, Young said. The gun was still missing today, he said.

"He told the officers a friend took the gun from him," he said. "We don't know if he hid the gun or gave it to someone else."

Young emphasized that the students who turned in the boy "did the right thing."

"They did a great job of notifying the principal," he said. "They did what they were supposed to do."

The boy, whose name was not released because of his age, was arrested and charged with grand larceny, possession of a firearm on school grounds, resisting arrest and intimidating an officer.

The gun is the 39th one confiscated on the school grounds this school year, Young said. Sixteen were BB guns, he said. Last year, school police confiscated 52 guns on campuses, he said.

Ray Willis, spokesman for the district, said, "We obviously are concerned about a single weapon being found. We would prefer that there be no weapons.

"(But) if you consider that our school police force is larger than it has ever been, they are doing a much better job and they're finding more guns."

Here are some recent incidents involving guns in schools:

Four 16-year-old girls were in the car with him drinking alcohol, school police said. He was taken to the Clark County Detention Center, where he was charged with possession of an unregistered firearm and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

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