A 13-year-old boy was taken into custody Wednesday after officials at Kelly Middle School reported the student had brought a Glock 9 mm handgun to school and brandished the weapon in a bathroom, police said.
After conducting interviews with the student and others in the bathroom at the time, school officials and police said they have no reason to believe the student intended to threaten or injure anyone. Police haven’t released the name of the student who was taken into custody.
“We don’t know if the gun was loaded during the showing,” said Pam Alejandre, public information director for the Eugene Police Department. “We believe it was motivated as a show-and-tell situation. Apparently, he had no intent to harm anyone.”
The gun scare comes on the tail of a nationwide string of school shootings and narrowly averted attacks, reminding many locally of the 1998 Thurston High School shooting.
The student has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm in a public building and for pointing a firearm at another person. He was taken to the Juvenile Justice Center off Centennial Boulevard in Eugene.
School officials said the student displayed the gun in a bathroom during the first period of the day. During the break following that period, one of the students who was present in the bathroom went to the principal and told her what he had seen.
Principal Jane Harrison then entered the student’s classroom with another teacher and quietly removed him from class. They proceeded to the office, where the gun and a loaded clip were discovered in the student’s backpack.
“The kid was clearly terrified,” Harrison said. “He wasn’t very happy about me going through his backpack.”
Police learned that the gun belonged to the boy’s father and was stored in a locked cabinet. The boy unlocked the cabinet using a key removed from its hidden location, police said.
Harrison said she was impressed with the manner in which police calmly handled the situation.
Students said they were shocked at Wednesday’s incident.
“I knew him, and I didn’t think he was like that,” said Michael Blankenbeckley, a Kelly Middle School student. “I just hope it never happens again.”
Kelly Middle School is located at 850 Howard Ave. in North Eugene.
The student taken into custody transferred to the school in January, just missing a week-long safety program and non-violence education program held by the school in December, Harrison said.
Harrison stressed that today’s incident is a prime example of just how effective awareness and education programs can be.