PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Two high school students here have been arrested on firearm charges in connection with a shooting that allegedly occurred near a school bus stop last week, WAVY reports.
On Tuesday morning, police received several 911 calls reporting shots heard, and when officers arrived at the scene, they found evidence of a gun having been fired, the news source reports. Police told WAVY that that evening, the school resource officer at Churchland High School was told that two students, ages 15 and 17, who were attending summer school, were involved in “an incident involving firearms at a bus stop.”
During an investigation the following morning, school resource officers found that both male students were in possession of guns and that the gunshots heard in the area was one of the students firing a gun after getting off the school bus, according to the news source. The teens have been charged with underage possession of a firearm, a misdemeanor, and possession of a firearm on school property, which is a felony, WAVY reports. The students have turned themselves in and are being held at a juvenile detention facility.
The Virginian-Pilot obtained a letter that Portsmouth Public Schools sent to parents on Wednesday that stated that no students or employees were harmed in the incident and that an investigation was being conducted. The letter also asked parents to remind their children that “weapons and look-alike weapons are prohibited from school grounds and are also prohibited from all school-sponsored events.”
Police spokeswoman Misty Holley told the newspaper that the students “didn’t shoot at the bus, they didn’t shoot on the bus, they didn’t shoot near the school.” School district spokesperson Ari Durall said in an email to The Virginian-Pilot that the bus driver and bus monitor did not hear the shots fired.
2 Students Arrested in Shooting Near School Bus Stop
The Virginia teens allegedly have guns on their person and one fires his gun after exiting the school bus. Both are facing firearm charges.
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