CRIME, POLICE + COURTS
East High student arrested for bringing gun to school
Dec 17, 2021, 1:06 PM | Updated: 5:35 pm
Roughly 100 students walked out of class at East High on Friday, May 27, 2022. The students say the walkout was in support of more gun control and to honor the victims in the recent school shooting in Texas. (FILE: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
(FILE: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City police have arrested a student accused of bringing a gun and ammunition to East High School.
How police learned about the gun
SLCPD School Resource Officers were alerted to a social media post where a student was reportedly shown holding a gun. The officers began to investigate and found the gun and ammo in the student’s backpack.
“We run every threat to the ground,” says SLCPD Chief Mike Brown. “It’s labor-intensive, staff-intensive, but nevertheless, we’ll run every threat to the ground.”
The student has been taken to the Salt Lake Valley Detention Center, where they will be referred for prosecution.
And Brown says parents could be charged, too.
“It all comes down to investigate, but as parents, we do have a responsibility,” he said. “If you are negligent in what you are doing — or what you don’t — you could be charged.”
Police do not know if the student bringing a gun was part of a larger trend on Dec. 17, influenced by TikTok.
Call for nosier parents
“We need to stop allowing children to have such easy access to guns,” said Chief Brown. “I’m urging everyone in our community to lock up your guns. Parents, it is okay to be nosy. It is not against the law, it is not a crime to be a nosy parent. Know what is in your kids’ backpack before they go to school. Know what they’re posting on social media.”
Brown said his number one priority is to keep students and teachers safe and reiterated the importance of reporting anything that seems out of the ordinary.
The department was able to find the gun at East High, because of reports to police and school administrators.
“We’re in the business of making sure that we keep our students safe,” says SLCSD Superintendent Timothy Gadson. “So whenever any object is brought to a campus that can cause harm… of course that’s scary. It’s our job to make sure everyone in that facility is safe. That everyone makes it home at the end of the day.”
