Caddo Schools Safety Director Roy Murray Says Kids With Guns Is Public Concern

Last week, we saw two instances of a student bringing an unloaded gun on a school campus. Caddo Parish Public Schools Security Director Roy Murray says this is something everyone in the public should be concerned about, not just school officials and parents.

Wednesday, a 15-year-old Huntington High School 10th-grader was arrested for having a .40-caliber handgun in the waistband of his pants at school. Then, Friday afternoon, a 14-year-old Linear Middle School student was arrested after a .380-caliber handgun was found in his backpack aboard a school bus. Fortunately, both guns weren't loaded, no threats were made, and nobody was hurt.

"We do random searches with hand-held metal detectors on a weekly basis with all high schools and middle schools," Murray says. "But the way we find out about guns on campus, drugs on campus, or when something's really gonna happen is when students come and tell us."

In Wednesday's incident, a student said she'd seen the student the day before after school with a gun in his possession. She was concerned enough about it to tell the principal, who called officers to come do a search. That's when the student was found with the weapon in his possession.

Murray says if guns are being misused in neighborhoods, there's going to be an opportunity for a child to get ahold of one of them and try to bring it to school. "These schools are part of neighborhoods, they sit in the middle of neighborhoods," he says. "Over the years, we've added security, we've added camera systems, we've placed police officers working in schools, we have security personnel working in schools. But our greatest thing is we have to create an environment in schools where kids are willing to tell us what's going on. If parents know these things are going on with their kids, they need to be calling the schools to let them know that there's the possibility that these things could come on to campus."

Murray says we need to find out how kids are getting these guns...either from the home in which they live or on the streets. He says if it's at home, parents need to be vigilant about keeping their weapons locked up.

"Sheriff's Office, police departments, when they do these gun safety courses, that's one thing that they do go out and tell parents," Murray says. "You need to find a way to lock your guns up. And you need to be able to lock your gun and disable your gun so nothing accidental happens at the house, but plus, a kid can't get his hands on it and use it away from the house."