Student brings gun to elementary school

A gun was found at a local elementary school Tuesday and at least one student led away in handcuffs, according to a school employee.

Brownsville Independent School District officials said late Wednesday that the unloaded gun was “secured” by an officer at Gonzalez Elementary.

A student at the Coffee Port Road campus alerted school administrators about the firearm, according to a prepared statement issued by Drue Brown, the district’s spokeswoman.

“A BISD police officer who was on the Gonzalez campus at the time took immediate action and secured the weapon,” the statement reads. “At no time were Gonzalez students or staff in any danger.”

BISD police will continue to investigate the incident, Brown wrote, adding, “ Â… appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.”

Brown would not give details regarding the student involved in the incident but an employee at the school, who asked not to be identified, said faculty and staff were called into an after-school meeting with Principal Yolanda Kruger and informed that the gun was found inside a classroom desk.

The employee said the student, a fifth-grade boy, was handcuffed and removed from the campus and other students have been suspended, “because they knew about it and didn’t tell right away.”

Those at the meeting were reportedly told not to talk about the incident, pending completion of an investigation, including not answering parents’ questions.

“We’re supposed to refer them to administration,” the employee said and did not know if parents had been notified of the incident Wednesday.

The gun was reported to a teacher’s aide “sometime in the morning,” the employee said, but faculty and staff weren’t told about it until after school and, “some of us were upset.”

Kruger, recently transferred to Gonzalez Elementary from a longtime assignment at Hanna High School, was not available for comment Wednesday.

Brown would not specify what disciplinary action is pending against the student, including if he had been suspended or could face criminal charges for taking the weapon into a gun-free zone.

She would only say there is an ongoing investigation being handled by the district’s police, whose chief, Oscar Garcia, would also not comment.

In accordance with the Gun-Free Schools Act, “the district shall expel from the student’s regular program, for a period of one year, any student who is determined to have brought a firearm, as defined by federal law, to any district school.”

The district’s student conduct and discipline policy, available online at bisd.us, states: “A student shall not possess, use, or exhibit any firearm, illegal knife, club, or prohibited weapon at school or any school-related activity.”

Under the heading, “Criminal Offense,” the policy states:

“A student shall not intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly possess or go with a firearm, illegal knife, club, or prohibited weapon on the physical premises of a school, any grounds or building on which an activity sponsored by a school is being conducted, or a passenger transportation vehicle of a school, unless pursuant to written regulations or written authorization of the district.

“An offense under this provision is a third degree felony.”

The policy provides that a student “shall be removed from class” and placed in an alternative education program within the district if he or she commits one of a list of offenses, including conduct punishable as a felony.