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Student arrested after bringing gun to Ironwood Ridge High School, officials said
By Alexis Huicochea
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.03.2007
A 10th-grader at Ironwood Ridge High School was arrested last week for taking a loaded gun to school, officials said Tuesday.
The student, whose name was not released, was arrested March 26 on suspicion of weapons misconduct - possession on school grounds - and released to his parents, said Liz Wright, a spokeswoman for the Oro Valley Police Department. He has been referred to Pima County Juvenile Court.
Earlier that day, school administrators learned from a student that a 16-year-old boy brought a gun to the school, 2475 W. Naranja Drive.
The assistant principal and a school resource officer brought the student in for questioning at which time they learned he had the loaded revolver in his jacket pocket.
"He said another student gave it to him at his bus stop and asked him to hold on to it," Wright said.
The other student was questioned but denied knowing anything about a gun, she said. That student was searched, along with his car, and no firearms or ammunition were found.
The Oro Valley Police Department is working to determine who the gun belongs to but it was not reported stolen, Wright said.
It is not clear why the boy took the gun to school, but according to Todd Jaeger, the Amphitheater School District attorney and associate superintendent, "his motive was not harmful and there is not indication that anyone was to be threatened with the weapon."
"This is one of those situations that brings home the fact that these things still happen in schools," Jaeger said. "We are very fortunate that this was simply the presence of a gun and when it became known to us, appropriate action was taken."
A letter sent home Tuesday was sent home to parents from the school's principal, Sam McClung, advising that the situation is being taken seriously.
"We do not want to have a school with metal detectors, or a 10 foot high perimeter fence. We want our school to be a welcoming place, not look like or feel like a prison," McClung wrote. "All students have a responsibility to never bring weapons to school. Beyond that, however, students also have a responsibility to never play a role in concealing another student's possession of a harmful weapon."
Jaeger would not comment on what kind of discipline was administered citing student privacy rules.
Cops: Ironwood Ridge teen brought loaded pistol to school
By DAVID L. TEIBEL
Tucson Citizen
A 16-year-old Ironwood Ridge High School student in facing a misdemeanor weapons charge after he was found with a loaded pistol on the Northwest Side school's campus, an Oro Valley police spokeswoman said.
The boy did not pull the weapon on anyone and Oro Valley police have been unable to determine why the boy brought the gun to school, said police spokeswoman Elizabeth Wright.
After a rumor started circulating in the school March 26 that a student was packing a gun, Wright said, school authorities tracked down the boy who supposedly had it and interviewed him in an assistant principal's office. An Oro Valley police officer, assigned to the school as its school resource officer, sat in on the interview, Wright said.
The 16-year-old initially said another student at a school bus stop gave him the gun to hold but that he, the 16-year old, threw the gun into the desert before arriving on campus, Wright said.
Authorities found the gun while questioning the 16-year old, Wright said. "He was acting really nervous and when asked where the gun was he said it was in his jacket pocket," Wright said..
Authorities questioned the boy who supposedly gave the gun to the 16-year-old and he denied ever having it, Wright said.
She said the 16-year old had made no threats to use the gun on anyone.
The boy was arrested on suspicion of one count of weapons misconduct, possessing a weapon on school grounds, Wright said.
His parents were given paperwork ordering them to schedule a Pima County Juvenile Court hearing on the matter for the boy.
Wright said officers do not know where the boy got the gun and are trying to trace its ownership. It has not been reported stolen, Wright added.
Sam McClung, principal of the school at 2475 W. Naranja Drive, would not discuss the incident except to say a student had brought a gun onto campus and that the student was receiving "appropriate discipline." Neither he nor Wright would name the student and McClung additionally would not give the student's gender.
McClung said that in general a student bringing any weapon on campus faces a nine-day suspension and an Amphitheater Unified School District hearing to determine if a longer suspension or possibly expulsion is in order.
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