Loaded gun found on student at Henrico middle school

HENRICO, Va. (WWBT) -Henrico police say a gun was found at a Henrico middle school earlier Wednesday.

On Wednesday, May 31, just before 3 p.m., a Henrico County Police School Resource Officer (SRO) and school administrators responded to the report of a juvenile with a firearm at John Rolfe Middle School in the 6900 block of Messer Road.

Police and school officials recovered a loaded firearm from the juvenile’s possession. Officers then took the student to the Henrico Juvenile Detention home. They charged him with possession of a firearm by a person under 18, a gun on school property, and a concealed weapon.

This comes just hours after Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas and Henrico Police Chief Eric English posted a video on Youtube that urged parents and gun owners to keep weapons away from their children.

Henrico County Public Schools have seen several incidents over the past year where kids have brought guns to school.

Before this incident, a gun was found in a bathroom trashcan at Longdale Elementary School exactly 2 weeks ago.

Henrico officials want parents to talk to their kids about the repercussions of bringing guns to school and to monitor their social media to look for potential warning signs.

The division is also looking to combat these incidents by adding weapon scanners to schools starting this August. The scanners are a security system consisting of two towers that students and staff will pass through upon arriving at the building. It can detect weapons that a standard metal detector might miss.

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