MIDDLETOWN — A Middletown High School teen was arrested Thursday morning after a classmate tipped off school staffers that the boy had brought a BB gun to school.
The BB gun was not fired and no one was injured, school officials told the Journal-News.
“This morning, the administration at MHS received a tip that a student may be in possession of a weapon,” Middletown High School Principal Carmela Cotter said in a statement sent to school parents.
“Immediately the student was located and searched and a BB gun was confiscated. The students was charged, removed from campus, and discipline was processed. All students are safe and the day proceeded without incident,” Cotter said.
“We commend the student who came forth with the tip,” she said, adding “with daily alarming items in the news, know that our commitment to detailed communication with you is heightened. Student and staff safety remain our top priority. We continue to respond and react to each concern with immediate and appropriate action as well as proactively remind students of the need for personal safety.”
Middletown Schools spokeswoman Destini Burns said the male student’s actions also starts an automatic suspension from school pending an expulsion hearing for his violation of school rules.
“As a district, we are proud of the student who came forth with the tip. Safety of our students and staff is a top priority,” said Burns.
In February, a 15-year-old male student at the school brought a loaded handgun to the building but another student alerted staffers and no one was injured.
The teen entered a guilty plea to illegal conveyance of a deadly weapon into a school safety zone, a fifth-degree felony, and was sentenced to Butler County Juvenile Detention Center but was released on probation in April.
