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Report: Student pointed gun, cocked trigger




The Gallatin High School student charged with bringing an unloaded gun to school on March 21 had pointed the gun at a fellow student’s head and cocked the trigger in a school bathroom, according to a recently obtained report of the incident. The 15-year-old has also been charged with aggravated assault. 

A deputy with the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office was called to the school at around 9:55 a.m. to speak with a student regarding a weapon at school, according to the report. A student told the deputy that she overheard her cousin tell other boys that he wanted to transfer to another school. When the student asked him why he wanted to transfer, he told her that another student had pulled a gun on him in the bathroom, and asked the cousin to not tell anyone.

In an interview with the deputy, the victim was reluctant to speak at first, according to the report. He told the deputy that he thought the two were going into the bathroom to fight. When the student pulled a gun out, he wasn’t afraid at first because he thought it was a fake, “but then he cocked the gun and pointed it at his head.” The victim said he yelled at the teen with the gun, and a teacher walked in and made them leave the restroom.

A search of the accused 15-year-old’s backpack yielded an unloaded handgun with no magazine or ammunition in the backpack, according to the report. The teen told the deputy he found the rusty gun by the railroad tracks two weeks earlier and forgot he had it in his bag. The teen was taken to juvenile detention and charged with possession of a weapon on school property and aggravated assault.

The day after the incident, several Sumner County officials held a press conference at the Sumner County Administration Building announcing a special-called meeting in which additional funding for more school resource officers would be requested.

County Commissioner Jerry Foster referenced the incident in his plea for more funding during the meeting on April 3. Commissioners voted to fund five additional officers this year.

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