PUYALLUP, Wash. — The Puyallup School District is learning of a dangerous pattern. Over the past five weeks, students at four different schools have brought a gun on campus.
The latest incident occurred this past Wednesday, Nov. 8, at Emerald Ridge High School.
A resource deputy was notified of a gun in the school after the principal saw a 15-year-old student trying to get rid of his bag as he was being taken to the office.
When the principal grabbed the bag and saw the gun inside, he passed it on to the deputy.
“In all of these instances, there was no intent to harm or cause violence,” says Sarah Gillispie of the Puyallup School District. “This does not minimize the situation, but it does tell us that our reporting and our response to intervention is working.”
Gillispie said the students involved were expelled immediately, and this kind of action will not be tolerated.
The student was arrested and booked in Remann Hall for possessing a firearm.
Guns were also brought into Ballou Junior High, Glacier View Junior High and Puyallup High School in recent weeks.
The Puyallup School District announced that it will hold a virtual community forum next week to help parents understand the district’s safety and security protocols.
But Sgt. Darren Moss Jr. of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department says this kind of behavior has become familiar to his deputies.
“It’s kind of mirroring what we’re seeing on the streets,” he said. “Kids and juveniles and teenagers and young adults are the ones committing the most serious, violent crimes that we have. We have several homicides involving teenagers and young adults, a lot of armed robberies and possession of a stolen vehicle and these smash and grab burglaries, they’re all kids.”
Moss also said since deputies can’t speak to a juvenile offender unless a lawyer is present, learning a motive can be challenging.
Now he’s calling on gun owners in Pierce County to be more responsible with their firearms and make sure they’re securely locked away to keep them from falling into the wrong hands.
“We are so concerned about the safety of our students, and to know that our students are bringing guns into school is the last thing that we want to have to think about,” he said. “A lot of kids are stealing guns from cars, they’re stealing them in burglaries, or they’re taking them from home, and the biggest thing people need to do is lock them up.”