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MAGNA — A teen may face criminal charges after taking what turned out to be a toy gun to school Tuesday, fleeing police and prompting the lockdown of four schools.
Police took the 14-year-old into custody when he turned himself into their command center around 2:30 p.m.
The ninth-grader at Brockbank Junior High School, showed the facsimile to a fellow student in a wood shop class, who thought the gun was real, about 1:30 p.m, said Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal.
The student told a teacher about the gun. A school resource officer approached the teen about 100 yards off campus and the boy ran away, Hoyal said, prompting the soft lockdown of four area schools. This means school went on as "normally as possible" inside, but no one is allowed on or off the campus, according to Ben Horsley, Granite School District spokesman.
"The important part about this is the student did absolutely the right thing" by telling a teacher about the weapon, Horsley said.
Bringing a weapon or facsimile to school is a Safe School violation, Horsley said, adding that chances the teen will return to a traditional school are "slim."
"It depends on what happens with the courts," he said. "We've generally not seen students return to a traditional environment."
Seventh-grader Gracie Jorgensen said she is friends with the girl who reported the student who brought the toy gun to school, and she said the ninth-grader made her friend feel threatened.
"She was crying and she was shaking," Gracie said. "She told me that she told on a guy that had a gun, and then he called her a snitch and pointed it at her."
Gracie said her friend was "really upset," and others in the classroom were visibly shaken.
"I was just so afraid," Gracie said. "The guy behind me, who also stayed in the classroom, was shaking so bad and was really afraid also."
Horsley said he hopes parents will use Tuesday's events as a teaching opportunity.
"We hope that parents will take the opportunity to remind their students that the greatest security system in the school is not the camera systems. It's not the police officer. It's the students using their eyes and ears," he said. "And when they see unsafe behavior, whether it be a weapon or bullying or other types of behavior that are inappropriate in a school environment, the best thing that they can do is to report that to an adult."
Students can also use anonymous text and tip lines in Granite District and other districts that have such services to report dangerous behavior, Horsley said.
