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January 7, 2009

Gun on campus leads to charges

Incident connected to vehicle burglaries

By Jayson Larson Editor

Athens school officials are scheduled to hold a hearing Thursday for students who allegedly brought a stolen handgun onto the high school campus in mid-December, Superintendent Dr. Fred Hayes said Tuesday.

The students could be expelled at that hearing.

Four students, three of them juveniles, are being charged with possessing and/or exhibiting a firearm on school property — which would be a clear violation of the district’s zero tolerance policy regarding guns and drugs on campus. The students could be suspended for up to a year if school officials determine the policy was, in fact, violated.

The names of the students are not being released.

Hayes said there is no indication the students intended to use the gun to harm anyone on campus, and he said he doesn’t believe it was discharged. According to a public statement released by school district Police Chief Paul Redic, the students apparently brought the gun back to the campus several hours after it was stolen to sell it to someone for $50.

“We handled (the situation) in accordance with our policy,” Hayes said. “Our administration and our police department handled it well. But I hate that it happened.”

Additionally, two of the juveniles — ages 16 and 14 — have been hit with multiple charges of burglary of a vehicle from the Athens Police Department. Athens Police Chief Buddy Hill said the charges stem from five to six local vehicle burglaries reported Dec. 17 and Dec. 18.

According to reports from the Athens Police Department, a handgun was stolen from the vehicle of an off-duty Henderson County sheriff’s deputy on Dec. 17. The vehicle was parked at the Cain Center.

Later that evening, the juveniles allegedly arranged to meet with another person at Athens High School in an attempt to sell the weapon. The gun changed hands at that time, although money apparently wasn’t involved. Hayes said students had already been released for the day by the time the gun was brought to campus. Students, he said, had early release at 2 p.m. from Dec. 17 through Dec. 19 — the last day of school before Christmas break. A basketball tournament was ongoing on campus, however.

Athens Police say the individual who received the gun was not aware it was stolen. That person cooperated with police and assisted in the recovery of the gun. He is not being charged with a crime.

The Athens Police investigation began to gather steam the following day when a person witnessed a youth attempting to open a vehicle door around 12:20 p.m. in the parking lot of the First Baptist Church of Athens. The witness called police, and an officer responded to the scene and questioned the youth — who had since climbed into a vehicle waiting to pick him up.

Further questioning revealed information about other vehicle burglaries around the city, including the one at the Cain Center the previous day.

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