13-Year-Old In Custody After Police Find Airsoft Gun At Timberline School
LONGMONT, Colo. (CBS4)- A teenager is in custody after police found an Airsoft gun at Timberline PK-8 School that was a replica of a pistol. About 1,000 teachers and students were evacuated from the school.
Police in Longmont took a 13-year-old boy into custody just after noon.
Officers were investigating reports that a student was walking around Timberline with a gun. That's when school officials put the school, located at 233 E. Mountain View Ave., on lockdown.
Police said all students were safe and secure in their classrooms while officers searched the school. No one was injured.
The gun was found at the school just before 5 p.m. It was an Airsoft gun which police described as "very realistic." It was a replica of a pistol that had been painted black.
Police will not release where in the school they found the gun because of the ongoing investigation.
"I tell my kids all the time if I could home school them I would because it's scary... This world, I don't understand it," said parent Amanda Rodriguez.
Police said students told them the boy had been seen with a gun over the past few days. He claimed he had it in his backpack on Friday.
"In this day and age these kids did the right thing. There may be someone carrying a gun in the school," said Longmont Police Cmdr. Jeff Satur.
Police said the student will be charged with interfering with school facilities and false reporting, both misdemeanors. He is being processed at the Longmont please department and will be transferred to the Boulder County juvenile detention center.
The school has students ranging from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade.
A picture from the Longmont Times-Call showed a group of students gathered behind a building on campus. It is not clear why the students were huddled by the building or whether they were already outside when reports of the gun were announced.
Parents were advised to pick up their children at Skyline High School. Timberline students were bused there in waves.
Parents were alarmed when they heard the news.
"I don't know where they get the idea of carrying guns at that age. It's scary," said grandparent George Catreras. "It's just scary. We hear about all the stuff in Denver so to hear about it here in Longmont, it's too close to home."
