Chaparral student who took gun to school was trying to sell weapon
The Chaparral student who took a gun to school was allegedly trying to sell the weapon, district officials said.
Parents in Chaparral are outraged after the weapon was found April 20th at the Chaparral Middle School campus.
A student alerted a teacher about the gun and the school was placed on lockdown.
A search by Dona Ana County sheriff’s deputies turned up the gun, which was reportedly unloaded, in the back of the school’s football field.
Parents who reached out to ABC-7’s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom said the situation should have been handled differently.
“I wouldn’t want nothing to happen to my granddaughter. It’s scary,” said a woman who did not want to be identified. She broke down in tears after describing the incident.
“I’m upset. Sometimes we want to call the office to complain, they don’t take it seriously. They should take everything seriously nowadays,” the woman said.
Student Lidia Ortiz said her classmates were surprised school wasn’t canceled. “We were just surprised. We could’ve been in danger,” Ortiz said.
The Gadsden Independent School District told ABC-7 that when the school administration was notified about the gun on campus, the school was put on a modified lockdown as a safety precaution and to accommodate testing requirements.
“Regardless, that is a gun and we don’t know if it was loaded or not,” Parent Diana Velasquez ABC-7 said, “I don’t think testing should’ve mattered because student can make up for it.”
School district officials say during the modified lockdown, class resumed, but doors were locked and students weren’t allowed in the hallways.
After finding the gun inside of a trash can near the football field, that modified lockdown was lifted at 2:30 that afternoon.
Parents weren’t notified until after it was over. GISD says students were safe.
For some parents, that’s not enough.
“They say our students are first. So, testing came first this time? That’s not right and they know that’s not right,” the woman said.
ABC-7 has learned the student has been disciplined, but officials will not say how due to age and privacy concerns.
