Charges forwarded for student who brought gun to Anchorage high school campuses, police say

Charges have been forwarded for a student who Anchorage police say brought a handgun to the campus of two high schools Monday.

Officers received a report of a student with a firearm on campus at Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School on Monday afternoon, the Anchorage Police Department said in a statement. Officers determined that the student had brought a handgun to King Tech High School earlier in the day, then rode a bus to East High for classes there, police said.

Police said the student initially brought the gun onto the East High campus, but then left the school and returned without it.

“The student was contacted by police in an East High classroom after the weapon had already been removed from campus,” police said in the statement.

East High was placed in “stay-put mode,” with students instructed to stay in their classrooms, after the student was reported to staff there, Principal Ron Brown wrote in a letter to families that was made available by the Anchorage School District. Officers evacuated the classroom where they contacted the student, and did not find a weapon when they searched the student, Brown said in the letter.

Charges against the student have been forwarded to the Division of Juvenile Justice, police said. There was no indication that any threats were made with the gun, they said.