8th-grader accused of bringing gun to school

A Truckee eighth-grader was stopped Tuesday morning by police officers when he got off the bus at school because they had been tipped that the youth had a gun in his backpack.

“(The 14-year-old) had brought a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun to the campus (Monday) during school hours. The student had the handgun in his backpack and showed it to at least four other male students throughout the day,” officers said in a press release.

Truckee police officers received a call at 7:15am Dec. 15 from a parent about the Alder Creek Middle School student possibly having a gun on him. When officers met him at the bus they took him into custody and subsequently learned he had brought the weapon to school the previous day. The weapon was located at his home on Tuesday.

“The firearm was found to be unloaded at the time, but had unsecured ammunition in close proximity to the unlocked storage location in the home,” the press release said. “The student had found the unsecured firearm while looking for his mobile phone that had previously been taken from him by his parents for discipline purposes.”

Officers believe the student brought the handgun to school to show it off, not to do harm.

He was arrested and released on a juvenile citation of felony charges of bringing a firearm on a school campus. This case remains under investigation as to whether the parents will face any criminal charges for not securing the firearm and ammunition.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report