Police jail gun-toting Mojave High student

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1999 | 10:57 a.m.

Clark County School District police arrested an 18-year-old Mojave High School student Monday morning after a .25-caliber handgun was found in his backpack on the North Las Vegas campus.

District spokeswoman Mary Stanley-Larsen identified the student as John McClure.

McClure was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and was expected to make an initial court appearance today on the gross misdemeanor charge.

School police spokesman Sgt. Ken Young said he did not think the district would seek an enhanced charge that applies to crimes that take place on school grounds, which carries a much stiffer sentence.

"Right now the charge is mere possession," Young said.

Officials said that about 8:15 a.m. a female student at the high school, 5302 Goldfield St., told school police that McClure was carrying a gun and was going to harm another student.

Young said McClure was arrested between classes about 15 minutes later.

Police took the teenager away from other students before confiscating a .25- caliber handgun from his backpack and arresting him, he said.

Young said McClure was cooperative when he was arrested.

"It is still unclear what the exact threat was," Young said. "It may have stemmed from an altercation over the weekend."

Young said police have confiscated six guns this year, three of them BB guns and one a gun that was found on the roof of a school.

He said the number of guns being brought to school campuses is on the decline.

The decline, he said, is due to efforts by police, administrators and students.

"In this case yesterday, if a student had not turned in the information to police, who knows what could have happened?" Young said. "We want to applaud students for taking a zero-tolerance attitude."

"We do appreciate efforts of the student and staff to report this," Stanley-Larsen said. "This is the way it is supposed to work."