Gun Confiscated From Student Involved In Fight At High School: Prince George's Police

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A student at Largo High School took a loaded gun onto school property Friday.

Around 11 a.m. Aug. 4, school resource officers assigned to the high school were informed that during a fight at the school, several students saw the suspect with a gun. The students alerted school security and the gun was recovered from the student, according to the Prince George's County Police Department.

The 16-year-old suspect has been charged as an adult with multiple weapons offenses that include handgun on person, dangerous weapon on school property, loaded handgun on person and additional charges.

Metal detectors are being installed at Prince George's County high schools in an attempt to eliminate students bringing guns into buildings. High school students also will be required to have clear backpacks. The new safety measures were announced at a July meeting by new superintendent Millard House II to include metal detectors at all high schools and middle schools, but that has been scaled back to include only a group of high schools for the start of the school year and not the middle schools.

"Part of my induction into this community is really understanding where the hotspots are, listening, and looking at the data and understanding where the opportunities are to support some potential changes," House said at his first news conference last month.

He added that he has implemented similar safety measures at his previously leading school districts in Texas and North Carolina.

A school district spokesperson told ABC7 that the phased-in approach will allow Security Services leadership staff to be on site as each school initially brings the equipment online to provide onsite feedback to the school security personnel about implementation.

"Phasing in the devices will also allow us to learn from the implementation at the first schools and make any needed adjustments to our plan before employing the technology at the next set of schools. In addition, the units are all made to order and then must be shipped to the school district," the statement noted.

"We are purchasing over 200 units, so this supply chain impacts the overall timeline. Prior to the use of units at each school, the Security team must conduct a walkthrough with Maintenance and the school administration to ensure the sites for detectors have the electrical capacity needed to run them and we are installing bases that will hold the detectors in place. Finally, we want to make sure staff are adequately trained prior to manning the devices. The phased-in approach will give Security Services the time needed to train personnel properly.”

Prince George’s County Educators Association President Donna Christy told ABC7 that while her members are divided on metal detectors and backpacks, they all agree that something needs to be done. She told of a middle school teacher beaten and injured by students last spring and said, “Our members are very concerned about school safety. It is our number one issue outside of teacher pay and workload -- they do not feel safe in their buildings.”

But Christy said the fear is not weapons as much as behavioral issues that won't be addressed by gun detectors and clear backpacks.

“When trouble is brewing we’re not aware of it. Because we’re so stretched thin trying to keep up with the everyday tasks that we’re not as connecting as much with the students to know that trouble is brewing," Christy said.