Fortunately, Watson said, nobody was hurt and nobody was in the bathroom at the time.
In a video that the school system published, Watson stated that the student had been taken into custody and that the police were looking into whether the student’s parents would be charged with a crime.
In the video, Gwinnett Schools Police Chief Tony Lockard stated, “We will be working with the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s office to determine whether criminal charges will be forthcoming.”
Lockard refused to provide additional information regarding the inquiry. The Gwinnett district attorney’s office said in a statement that while the incident is still being investigated, more charges are likely to be brought.
Last month, the Gwinnett school board decided to invest almost $20 million to install Evolv weapons detection devices in all middle and high schools. Elementary schools do not have the systems. The majority of school systems in metro Atlanta have both police patrols at elementary schools and full-time school resource officers, or SROs, assigned to certain schools.
Before leaving for school, Lockard encouraged parents to make sure their firearms were safe and secure and to check their child’s backpack for anything that shouldn’t be there.
The monthly meeting of the school board is scheduled for this Thursday.
