Student brings gun to Modesto Village I middle school

A 12-year-old boy was cited and released to his parents this week on suspicion of bringing a gun to Daniel Savage Middle School in east Modesto.

The boy told officers he found the revolver at nearby Freedom Park and forgot that he had put it in his backpack when he went to school Wednesday, said Modesto police Lt. Brandon Gillespie.

Other students saw the revolver when the boy opened his backpack and informed school staff. The gun was not loaded.

“We were able to isolate the student and get the weapon, Modesto police officers followed up and cited this student and, of course, we are following all the procedures mandated for appropriate discipline,” said Savage Middle School Principal Mitch Wood. Bringing a firearm to school “is considered a category (in the Education Code) mandatory for expulsion,” Wood said.

Gillespie said officers confirmed that the revolver did not belong to the boy’s parents and that it had not been reported stolen. It’s unclear where the gun came from.

The boy was cited and released on suspicion of bringing a firearm into a school zone.

Wood said an email and a letter about the incident were sent to parents Friday.

He said because the danger had been eliminated, he wanted to get all the facts and give the child due process before he presented the information to parents.

“We didn’t intend to keep the parents out of the loop at all, but maybe as we look back on things, a more immediate communication would have been warranted,” he said.

Wood intends to send another letter to parents early next week with a time and date of a community forum to debrief on Wednesday’s incident.

The intent of the meeting will be to discuss how incidents such as this can be handled most effectively, and the potential protocol in these types of situations, he said, as well as offer students different ways to report a weapon on campus. For example, “You don’t want to alarm the class and don’t want to give the student (with the weapon) a heads up, so we’ll debrief on when you go into lockdown.”

This story was originally published November 14, 2014 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Student brings gun to Modesto Village I middle school."