St. Paul police and school staff have found four guns inside or near two high schools in a week’s span, the police department said Friday.
Two of the cases happened Thursday: At Humboldt High School on Baker Street, a 13-year-old was located with a gun; and outside Harding High School on East Sixth Street, police arrested a 15-year-old who had a gun and who’d made threats against the school, said Sgt. Toy Vixayvong, a St. Paul police spokesman.
Last Friday, April 11, police found two guns in a student’s backpack inside Harding, Vixayvong said.
There had been no previous instances of guns found on St. Paul Public Schools property this school year; last school year five guns were discovered, said school district spokesperson Erica Wacker.
St. Paul police and the school district provided this information about the recent incidents:
Harding
On Thursday, just before 2:10 p.m., police received a report that a student might be armed outside Harding. He had not been on school property but he made threats to show up at the school with a gun, Vixayvong said.
Police searched and found the 15-year-old student, who had a gun, in a wooded area near the Harding Arena, Vixayvong said. He was arrested.
Earlier Thursday, at about 9:40 a.m., police were told that a different Harding student made a video with a gun and sent it to another student as a threat, said Alyssa Arcand, a St. Paul police spokeswoman. Police checked the student and found no gun.
Additional security measures were taken at the school on Thursday, Principal Tony Chlebecek wrote to parents.
Last week at Harding, the school notified police about 9 a.m. April 11 that a 15-year-old student had posted himself on social media holding a gun, Vixayvong said. Staff brought the student to the office and searched him, but did not find a gun. They checked surveillance video and saw he’d handed a backpack to a female student.
A search of the female student’s locker turned up a backpack with two guns inside, one of which was stolen, Vixayvong said. Police arrested the 15-year-old male. The other student said she didn’t know there were guns in the bag.
“No threats were made and no one was injured,” Chlebecek wrote in a letter to parents about that case.
Humboldt
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Police were notified around 3 p.m. Thursday about the situation at Humboldt. Earlier, staff searched a student’s backpack and found an empty holster, and they dismissed him for the day, Vixayvong said.
Staff received a tip that another student, a 13-year-old, had the gun and they found it in his backpack, according to Vixayvong. Police arrested him.
The other student had reportedly asked the 13-year-old to hold onto the gun for him. The 14-year-old turned himself in to police Thursday night, Arcand said.
Humboldt Principal Valerie Littles-Butler wrote to parents that there had not been threats made in the case.
Both she and Chlebecek also wrote: “I can’t stress enough for all members of our … community to say something if you see or hear any safety concerns. If you have any weapons in your home, make sure they are safely stored and not accessible.”
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