Bossier Sheriff to Students: Do Not Bring Weapons to School

Bossier Sheriff Julian Whittington is sending a message to students: Do not make threatening comments or bring weapons to school.

His comments stem from a couple of recent incidents at different Bossier Parish schools. Sheriff's Lt. Bill Davis says in a news release that two teenage boys were arrested for inciting violence and carrying a toy weapon that looked like a real gun onto a school campus. Fortunately, the School Resource Officers and school officials took preemptive action to avoid any potential problems.

"The Bossier Sheriff's Office will take every threat seriously...because it just might be real," said Sheriff Whittington. "In this day and age, you can't be too cautious. We know parents expect a safe learning environment for their children, and I commend the teachers and School Resource Officers for preventing anything worse from happening."

One incident involved a 16-year-old boy from Butler Educational Complex, who previously attended Airline High School. He was charged with terrorizing after posting comments on a Twitter account for students at Airline, telling them to threaten students at another high school with a multitude of weapons. He even posted a photo of several guns as examples. When the teen spoke with detectives, he admitted to the post, but said it was just a joke.

At Elm Grove Middle School, a 13-year-old boy was charged with illegally carrying weapons on school property after he was caught with a .177 caliber air pistol. He carried the "toy" in his backpack and pulled it out to show other students during one of his classes. Then he said to other students that if they told anybody about the pistol, which reportedly can be easily mistaken for a real gun, that he would shoot them.

Sheriff Whittington reminds students and parents that it's not a joke to threaten other people at school, home or anywhere, even when you are doing so behind the backdrop of a keyboard or cell phone screen.

"Young people who think it is okay to bring a real gun or even a toy pistol or pellet gun to school need to realize that these toys guns often look just like the real thing," said Whittington. "The message is clear - DO NOT bring ANY type of weapons to school."