School police seize weapons from student’s bedroom

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Monday, April 26, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

Clark County School District Police seized a record-sized cache of weapons -- including handguns, knives, axes and throwing stars -- from the home of a Desert Pines High School student Thursday, police said.

A total of 58 weapons were recovered from the 17-year-old student's bedroom, said Darnell Couthen, spokesman for the School District police.

Two campus officers were on routine patrol Thursday at 8:30 a.m. when they observed three teens loitering near Edwards Elementary School, southeast of the intersection of Bonanza Road and Lamb Boulevard, Couthen said.

In talking with the teenagers -- two 17-year-olds and a 13-year-old-- the officers recovered two knives, a pair of nunchakus and an electronic Taser, Couthen said.

After further conversation with the teenagers, all of whom were supposed to be in class at Desert Pines, the officers went to the home of one of the 17-year-olds and received the parents' permission to search the teenager's room. They found the weapons, Couthen said.

"It shows what a little proactiveness and a little initiative will do as far as the officers are concerned," Couthen said.

All three teenagers were arrested and booked into the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center on charges of loitering near a school with a concealed weapon and carrying a concealed weapon. The 17-year-old's parents were cited by Metro Police for aiding or knowingly allowing a child to possess a firearm, Couthen said.

The identities of the students and the parents were not disclosed. The teenagers are not believed to be involved in gang activity although one of the boys may have recently been a victim of gang violence, Couthen said.

"We're looking at whether the weapons were intended for protection or retaliation," Couthen said.

It was fortunate the campus police officers spotted the teenagers, Couthen said.

"Who knows what they (the teenagers) were planning to do with the weapons or what could have been done with them," Couthen said. "Those kinds of weapons did not need to be in the possession of children."

While school police officers often run across students playing hooky, the daily task of tracking those students down falls to the school district's attendance office. The school district has 16 truancy officers working in the Las Vegas Valley, responsible for more than 280 schools and nearly 270,000 students.

Every day officers locate students who are supposed to be in class and return them to school, said Norma O'Neil, senior attendance officer for the district.

It's been at least five years since the number of truancy officers has been increased, despite student enrollment jumping by more than 50,000 students over that time, O'Neil said.

"We could definitely use more help," O'Neil said. "The district is growing and growing and we constantly have more schools opening."