Student in Dundalk caught with loaded gun while treated for medical emergency
BALTIMORE - A student was found with a loaded gun while being treated for a medical emergency Thursday morning at Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts in Dundalk, according to Baltimore County police.
A school resource officer responded around 9:10 a.m. for an unspecified medical emergency on campus. A gun was recovered while the juvenile student was being treated, police said.
The student was taken to the hospital and then booked on charges.
Another Dundalk student caught with gun
Last school year, a 14-year-old student at Dundalk High School was arrested for bringing a loaded gun on campus. School officials said the gun was recovered around dismissal time.
"It's getting worse. They've got to do something about it," said Linda Cross, who has a grandchild at the school.
The student was charged as a minor for having the gun on school property.
School shooting prompts safety concerns
In September, 15-year-old Warren Grant died after he was shot in the bathroom at Joppatowne High School in Harford County. A 16-year-old was arrested for allegedly pulling a gun out of a backpack and shooting Grant.
That shooting has prompted serious discussions regarding safety measures at Harford County schools, including prohibiting students from bringing backpacks to schools and athletic events.
Roles of School Resource Officers
Last January, WJZ spoke with Mo Canady, the Executive Director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, an organization that trains SROs and educates the public about their role in schools.
He said there are ways to prevent the trend from getting out of control, including increasing security around the perimeter and the front entrance of schools. Canady says SROs could play a big role in that too.
"Having a carefully selected and specifically trained school resource officer on campus, whose goal is to bring community-based policing into that environment, and to really connect on a higher relationship level with the occupants of that building," Canady said.
