Student found with loaded gun at Clarke Central High School

By Joe Johnson

A 15-year-old Clarke Central High School student reportedly was found Tuesday afternoon with a loaded gun in his backpack Tuesday on the school’s South Milledge Avenue campus.

According to an Athens-Clarke County police report, the student faces possible charges of unlawful possession of firearms or weapons, possession of a weapon on school grounds, criminal trespass/entering a property for unlawful purposes, and possession of tobacco by a minor.

Police said they learned about a problem at the school when the resource officer was summoned at about 2:19 p.m. to the principal’s office, where administrators were detaining the 15-year-old suspect and four other students and discussing such topics as gangs, fighting, skipping, and problems the students had with schoolmates.

The suspect insisted multiple times that he had to use the restroom, the report noted, and he was the only student who refused to allow authorities to examine his backpack.

After the resource officer grabbed the backpack from the student, who was still saying he needed to go to the restroom, according to the report, the officer was escorting the student down a hallway, when the boy -Bay took off running and left the building.

The police report noted that a loaded 9mm semiautomatic pistol with an nine live rounds in the magazine was located in the backpack..

The boy reportedly was later located at his home at Rolling Ridge Apartments, but the state Department of Juvenile Justice decided to not place a hold on him.

A DJJ officer indicated that a warrant would be issued for the student's arrest once a complaint is filed in Juvenile Court, according to the police report.