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Student arrested for bringing gun to Marion Middle School

Staff reporter

"Our schools are safe but it's impossible to totally insulate them . . . there are many challenges in today's society," USD 408 Superintendent Lee Leiker said following a second incident in 14 months at Marion Middle School.

A 14-year-old Marion Middle School student was taken into custody April 8, following an incident when the teen brought an unloaded handgun to the school.

An incident led up to the gun being possessed by the student and taken to the school.

According to Marion County Undersheriff Randal Brazil, the 14-year-old had reported to the sheriff's department that a rifle, shotgun, and handgun were stolen April 4 from the family's residence in rural Marion.

According to Brazil, around 8 a.m. April 8, the 14-year-old was showing the unloaded handgun to another student in a boys' bathroom when a staff member walked in on the two.

The employee reported the incident to school authorities and law enforcement was summoned. The sheriff's office is conducting the investigation since the incident originated in the county.

"The student had just arrived at the school and within a couple of minutes was in the building," Leiker said. "A staff member identified a potential situation involving the two students, investigated it, and had the gun in the middle school office within a few minutes."

Leiker said school officials went into investigation mode. After they and law enforcement analyzed the situation, Leiker said it was determined that there were no other connections to the incident or further danger. Classes then resumed as normal, Leiker said.

The 14-year-old was arrested, transported to juvenile intake at Junction City, and charged with falsifying a police report and criminal possession of a firearm.

"I praise the staff member for his actions of knowing what to do when he observed the incident," Brazil said. He also complimented school officials who were "right on it and handled it very well."

Law enforcement said the 14-year-old acted alone and no other students were involved in the incident.

The student is not attending classes at this time.

In February 2007, four students were accused of being involved when one of the four students brought a practice hand grenade to the middle school. In that incident, the school was evacuated and explosive disposal experts from Fort Riley removed the device. The practice ordnance did not have an explosive charge but had to be treated as live ammunition.

"These two incidents are totally unrelated," Leiker said.

Leiker said the school district and school officials welcome and appreciate cooperation from local law enforcement with periodic walk-throughs at the middle and high schools. Several times each year, a drug dog is brought through the building and parking lot. Each time the random search was conducted, Leiker said there were no drugs located inside or outdoors.

"School official continue to take steps to clearly indicate that this is not acceptable action and move forward with policies and procedures to prevent similar actions in the future," Leiker said.

He encouraged parents and patrons to get involved with students.

"Ask them about their day and what's going on at school," Leiker said. "The more involvement from the community and parents, the better off the school."

Marion Police Chief Josh Whitwell plans to step-up police presence at the middle and high schools with officers do walk-throughs several times a week.

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