Two Howard School of Academics and Technology students are facing charges after police found a stolen gun in one of their book bags after a fight this afternoon.
The two juvenile male students began fighting about 2:45 p.m. and both the principal and assistant principal intervened, stopping the fight with assistance from the school resource officer, said Janice Atkinson, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.
“They took both of them to the office, and they found a loaded revolver,” she said.
Ms. Atkinson said neither juvenile’s name would be released, and she didn’t know the reason for the fight. The gun was reported stolen locally.
One student will be charged with disorderly conduct and the other was taken to the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center and charged with disorderly conduct, carrying a weapon on school property and possession of stolen property, a news release stated.
Hamilton County Department of Education spokeswoman Danielle Clark said the student found with the gun is expelled for one calendar year under the system’s zero-tolerance policy, but that penalty can be appealed.
Regarding the second student, fighting is a suspendable offense, she said.
The incident was two days after Orchard Knob Middle School was locked down when ammunition was found there.
Asked whether the school system was looking to find new ways to reach out to troubled students, Ms. Clark said that was a tough task “since kids are in school only 15 percent over the course of the year.”
“Most people recognize that these issues germinate in the community,” she said. “They start between folks when they’re not in school.”
Ms. Clark said there was no indication that the incident involved retaliation for last Saturday’s Coolidge Park shootings in which several people were injured.