Student charged with carrying unloaded gun at Rossview High School
A 16-year-old Rossview High School student is facing charges after school resource officers found an unloaded 9mm semiautomatic gun plus a loaded magazine with six rounds and one loose round of ammunition in the student's backpack Tuesday.
One of Rossview's school resource officers received a tip that a student may have been in possession of a weapon at school, which triggered the search of the student's backpack and the recovery of the gun and ammunition, according to a release from the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System.
There was no threat of violence made against the school, the release said. The student was charged with weapons on school property, minor in possession of a handgun and simple possession.
The Leaf-Chronicle does not identify juvenile suspects unless they are charged in adult court.
School resource officers have confiscated seven weapons as of a Nov. 17, according to a Montgomery County Sheriff's Office release.
One firearm came from a student's vehicle in the parking lot of Montgomery Central High School. One was in possession of a West Creek High student during a basketball jamboree at Austin Peay State University's Dunn Center. And another was found in possession of a parent in the parking lot of Northeast High School.
Five knives have also been confiscated, two at Rossview High, one at Rossview Middle School and one each at Kenwood Middle School and Northeast Middle School.
Seven students have been charged with making a threat of violence on school property while school resource officers have responded to 53 assault incidents, 58 drug cases and 22 threats of violence on school property.
“By design, the School Resource Officer Program was implemented to be a resource for our schools and to have two important impacts on a student’s education,” Montgomery County Sheriff John Fuson said.
“The first impact is to help positively influence and mentor students, and the second is to create a safe learning environment for the facility, students and staff. Unfortunately, it has become necessary for most SRO Programs, ours included, to focus primarily on safety. It can be challenging to keep our nearly 38,000 students and 5,100 educators and staff safe, but our SRO’s work hard to do exactly that each and every day."
The Tuesday incident comes one week after 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and terrorism after police say he shot 11 people, killing four at Oxford High School in Michigan. The teen's parents are also facing charges related to the case.
There is a bitter debate centered on the second amendment as gun violence continues to rise and politicians argue over tighter restrictions on gun ownership.
So far, there have been 28 school shootings in the United States in 2021.
Reach reporter Craig Shoup at 419-559-7582 or by email at cshoup@gannett.com and on Twitter @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to TheLeafChronicle.com.
This article originally appeared on Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: Unloaded gun, loaded magazine found on student at Rossview Tuesday
