Student In Custody After Handgun Found At Reach Partnership School In Baltimore
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A student at the Reach Partnership School in Baltimore was taken into custody after allegedly bringing a gun to the school Thursday.
A faculty member noticed a student acting suspiciously and alerted the school resource officer, said Clyde Boatright with the Baltimore School Police Union. That officer then identified the student and took the gun away without incident.
Police said the gun was not used to threaten anyone.
The school was not placed on lockdown.
School officials released the following statement:
"Today, school administrators at The Reach! Partnership School notified Baltimore City School Police of a gun at the school. Officers responded and quickly located and secured the weapon. At no time was the weapon used to threaten anyone.
Providing safe, secure, and positive climates for teaching and learning is City Schools' top priority. The student was taken into custody without incident. Under City Schools' student Code of Conduct, a student who brings a weapon on school grounds faces the maximum consequences, including possible permanent expulsion."
Boatwright said there have been 27 guns found at city schools in recent years.
"There is the potential for these things to go bad quickly," Boatwright said.
Boatwright told WJZ he believes all school resource officers should be able to carry a firearm inside school buildings.
"The other 23 jurisdictions in the State of Maryland have armed police in schools and Baltimore city, we do not," Boatwright said.
Parents like Eliana Carr say the news is scary. She has an eighth-grader in Baltimore City Schools.
"It makes you want to go to your son's class every day to make sure that everybody is okay," she said.
According to the school's student code of conduct, the student who brought the gun to school will face maximum consequences, and that could mean expulsion.
