Gun taken from student at Wesson AC
Published 6:00 am Thursday, February 23, 2006
School officials say Wesson Attendance Center students werenever in danger Tuesday when a seventh-grade student brought ahandgun to school.
“I don’t think his intentions were to hurt anyone,” saidPrincipal Billy Britt. “He didn’t endanger anyone with it and hehad no shells.”
Britt refused to disclose where the handgun was found, but saidit was never displayed in a threatening manner to otherstudents.
School officials were told of the handgun by another student andimmediately confiscated the weapon, Britt said.
“He just found a gun in the car port and brought it (to school).I don’t know that he had a reason – maybe to impress otherstudents,” Britt said.
The principal downplayed the incident as nothing to get excitedabout.
“Yesterday was a normal day for us,” he said. “We never becamethat alarmed because (the student) was not threatening anyone andthere were no bullets.”
The Wesson Police Department and Copiah County Sheriff’sDepartment were not notified of the incident, spokesmen for thosedepartments said.
“We didn’t get a call on it. It was handled internally,” saidSheriff Harold Jones.
A deputy has been assigned to investigate the incident, hesaid.
Copiah County School District Assistant Superintendent MarthaTraxler said the school followed the proper notification rules.
“They don’t have to notify (the sheriff.) They have to notifythe proper authorities and they did that. They consulted our boardattorney and followed his direction,” she said.
Traxler said she could not disclose any details concerning theincident, citing student privacy regulations.
Britt also said school officials acted properly in theirresponse to the incident.
“We feel like we did what we were supposed to do. It was handledaccording to board policy and the proper legal channels,” Brittsaid. “That’s the bottom line to me.”