Tuesday, April 21, 1998 | 9:41 a.m.
Three loaded handguns have been confiscated by Clark County School District Police officers from three high school campuses in two days, school police said.
The weapons, all fully loaded and ready to fire, were confiscated during school hours, school police said.
On Thursday, a .45-caliber weapon was confiscated from a teenager who had gone onto the campus of Eldorado High School because he was upset that his girlfriend, a student there, was seeing a fellow student, police said.
On Wednesday, a .45-caliber loaded handgun was taken from a student on the campus of Western High School.
Also on Wednesday, a student at Bonanza High School was arrested and a loaded .25-caliber handgun was confiscated from him, school police Sgt. Ken Young said.
The three suspects, whose names were not released, were each charged with possession of a dangerous weapon on school grounds, school police said.
It's a gross misdemeanor to possess a gun on school grounds.
A total of 35 guns have been confiscated on campuses within the school district this school year, Young said. Sixteen of the weapons were BB guns, Young said.
Also confiscated last week was a loaded weapon at VoTech High School, Young said. But the .9-mm loaded handgun was taken from a man after school hours who was parked on school property, Young said.
"The weapon was registered but we took it for safe keeping," he said.
Ronan Matthew, principal at Western, said, "Students who come to school with weapons are expelled. It's not just guns. It's weapons, period. Signs are posted all over school."
Being expelled from school serves as a harsh example of the minimum punishment students receive, Matthew said. They also face criminal punishment, police said.
"Certainly a gun is something they would be expelled for," Matthew said.
After the March 24 killing spree by two elementary school students in Jonesboro, Ark., five guns were taken from students on Clark County School District campuses, Young said.
Four girls and an English teacher who shielded a student from the attack were killed in the ambush. Eleven others -- 10 students and a teacher -- were wounded. Jonesboro police said as many as 27 shots were fired.
"We had five (guns confiscated) that week," Young said, "but I don't think we would attribute it to that particular incident. That was an unusual week."
Also, the day after the Jonesboro shootings, a female student was arrested at Chaparral High School for possessing spiked brass knuckles on campus, school police said. She went to school wearing camouflage clothing, police said.
Young said the reason weapons are found is because "we're increasing our relationship with the kids. That's why we're getting the guns we're getting. It's working."
A sophomore student at Western High School said students aren't aware of weapons brought onto the campus.
"It's not that we don't worry about it," Yessenie Segovia, 15, said. "We're not always informed about it."
Young said the "rumor mill" among students often spreads the word quickly. Police said there is no policy in place to notify students and parents that weapons have been brought onto their campuses.
archive
