Gun found at school

• By KIMBERLY VETTER AND CHARLES LUSSIER
• Advocate staff writers
• Published: May 8, 2009 - Page: 1A

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A 13-year-old Southeast Middle School student was arrested Wednesday for allegedly sneaking a loaded, high-powered rifle onto campus in a duffle bag and stashing it in locker.

The seventh-grader, whose name is not being released because of his age, was placed into the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Detention on a count of a student carrying a firearm on school property.

School officials found the weapon — described by law enforcement as a Ruger Mini 14 assault rifle — Wednesday afternoon after another student told them about the gun, said Casey Rayborn Hicks, a spokeswoman with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The rifle was concealed inside a large duffel bag, which was stowed in an empty gym locker used by coaches and athletes to store equipment, said Chris Trahan, a spokesman for the East Baton Rouge Parish school system.

The gun, loaded with 12 rounds, had been in the boys locker room since Monday, Hicks said.

The student accused of bringing the rifle to the middle school at 15000 S. Harrell’s Ferry Road did so after an argument he had last week with two other students, Hicks said. What the argument was about has not been determined.

Earlier this week, a student overheard the teenager say he had a weapon, Hicks said. The student notified school officials about the conversation on Wednesday.

The mother of the 13-year-old checked her son out of class Wednesday afternoon “because of a problem with a teacher,” Hicks said.

Southeast Principal Hollis Milton said he suspects the boy wanted to leave early because he knew school officials were aware of the gun.

Deputies arrested the teenager about 10:50 p.m. at Kleinpeter Substation on Airline Highway, Hicks said. The teen, his mother and an attorney showed up at the substation after being contacted by investigators.

Investigators do not know where the teenager got the gun or to whom the gun is registered, Hicks said. The gun is not registered as being stolen, according to preliminary searches through law enforcement databases, she said.

Whether the rifle was an automatic or a semiautomatic will be determined after the gun has been taken apart and examined, Hicks said. And despite a folding metal stock, the gun showed no signs of being altered, she said.

Jim McClain, owner of Jim’s Firearms, said Ruger hasn’t made weapons with folding stocks since 1989 and the Ruger Mini 14 is typically used by farmers and ranchers to kills animals such as coyotes.