Another student caught carrying gun at school

Cathy Scott

Friday, April 24, 1998 | 10:03 a.m.

The fourth loaded handgun in a week has been taken from a student on a school campus while classes were in session, Clark County School District Police said.

On Thursday afternoon during school hours a Rancho High School student walked onto the campus of J.D. Smith Middle School with a loaded .22-caliber handgun. The gun was ready to fire, school police said. School is in session from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A campus officer, recognizing that the boy was too old to be on the school grounds at 1301 Tonopah Drive, stopped him for questioning. That's when he discovered that the teenager was carrying the loaded weapon, school police said.

The student, who was not identified because he is a minor, was arrested and taken to Juvenile Hall. He was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon on school grounds. It is a gross misdemeanor to possess a gun on school grounds.

Last week, three loaded guns were confiscated by school police from three separate high schools, at Eldorado, Western and Bonanza. Two students and one teenager, who was not a student, were arrested.

The latest weapon marks the 36th gun discovered on school district campuses this school year. Sixteen of those weapons were BB guns, school police spokesman Sgt. Ken Young said. No injuries have been reported.