Having loaded pistol at school means year’s expulsion for 2 boys
Battle Ground police recovered a loaded .22-caliber handgun in the backpack of a Daybreak Middle School student Thursday morning, officials said.
Two eighth-grade boys have been expelled for the incident.
According to Battle Ground Public Schools, the boy who brought the pistol to school took it out of his backpack before classes started and showed it to other students. He gave it to another boy to keep in his backpack.
Another student who had seen the handgun alerted a teacher.
When police arrived, the two boys were approached separately, their backpacks were searched and the pistol was found.
The boy suspected of bringing the gun admitted carrying the pistol in his backpack, police said.
The pistol belongs to a member of the boy’s family, Battle Ground Police Sgt. Jason Perdue said.
“It appears he brought it to show it to a friend. It doesn’t appear there was any intention to hurt anybody with it,” Perdue said.
The boys face one-year expulsions and are banned from entering any Battle Ground school district property for one year, spokesman Gregg Herrington said in a news release.
The pair were placed in the custody of Clark County Juvenile Detention, and weapons charges will be forwarded to the Clark County Juvenile Court, police said.
Due to the boys’ age, their names were not released.
“I am proud of the student who immediately reported this to a teacher,” Principal Shelly Whitten said in the school district news release. “In my view, he is a hero.”
