A Monongalia County student was taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies last week for allegedly bringing a gun to his high school and displaying it to classmates – but Superintendent Eddie Campbell couldn’t discuss it in depth Thursday, given the ongoing investigation.
He could, though, praise another student who wasn’t afraid to report what he witnessed.
“We had a student who saw something and told a parent,” he said.
“We stress that to our kids every day,” he said. “If they see something that looks out of turn, they need to tell someone in authority.”
Neither Campbell nor Sheriff Todd Forbes, meanwhile, named the suspect or the school following the incident which occurred this past Thursday.
The parent immediately contacted Adam Henkins, the district’s school safety officer – who, in turn, told Campbell and called the sheriff.
“That’s our protocol,” Campbell said.
Deputies responded to the school and located the weapon in a parked vehicle, Forbes said in a release.
The student suspect was detained without incident and could face criminal charges from the sheriff’s department, along with additional disciplinary action from the Board of Education, the release stated.
“This appears to be an isolated incident,” the release continued. “There is no indication of an ongoing or imminent threat to students, staff or the broader school community.”
Campbell said the district hasn’t had any contact with the student since.
He appreciated the reaction and response, he said, given the current climate of gun violence in America’s schools.
Anything could happen, he said.
“But at the same time, nothing did,” the superintendent said of last week’s incident. “This was our best-case scenario, in that everything worked like it was supposed to.”
