Stolen gun found in Santa Cruz middle school student’s backpack
A loaded gun was seized from a middle school student’s backpack Thursday, Santa Cruz police said.
Officers were called to Mission Hill Middle School after the gun was discovered.
Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark said a teacher was alerted to the gun after reports from other students about seeing it in the student’s backpack. The teacher seized the backpack and brought it to the office, where it was secured until the Police Department’s School Resource Officer arrived.
The gun was determined to have been reported stolen out of Arkansas in 2012.
The 13-year-old student was placed under arrest and booked into Juvenile Hill on suspicion of possessing a gun on school grounds and possessing a stolen gun. Police believe the student also had the gun on campus Wednesday.
Police are still investigating how the boy got the gun. They said he was uncooperative with officers Thursday.
When found, the firearm had a fully loaded magazine and a round in the chamber, for a total of eight rounds.
Parents were notified of the incident, Clark said, though some have complained that they didn’t receive the memo. School officials said the information went out Thursday night via the student information system.
(Read the letter to parents here)
Superintendent Kris Munro said a hard copy of the letter, which also was posted on the school’s website, will be going home with students Friday along with further information.
Munro admitted that not every parent received the notifications.
She also isn’t concerned for a bigger student threat because the situation was handled immediately.
“This is a student that’s brand new to Santa Cruz, and very recently arrived to Mission Hill Middle School and so we believe it was an isolated incident,” Munro said. “There was no intent to harm in the investigation. It was clear there was no plan that the student had.”
Still, Clark said the department is continuing to investigate.
“The whole story line is concerning to us. Why is that gun there? Why did this student have it?” he said. “Why was it there a day prior and nobody reported it to the police department or school officials?”
