PACOIMA : Student With Toy Gun Suspended
A seventh-grader at Maclay Junior High School in Pacoima was suspended because school officials found a toy gun in his knapsack.
Principal Leonard George said the student’s toy gun was discovered Wednesday after an assistant principal began looking for students who had left the campus during lunch.
When the assistant principal approached the seventh-grader, the boy threw the knapsack “away from where he was sitting, as if to say, ‘This isn’t mine,’ ” George said. Suspicions roused, the assistant principal searched the bag and found a plastic gun that resembled a .22-caliber pistol.
George said the student will remain suspended pending an investigation and a meeting with his parents.
School officials have taken swift action in handling students who appear to be carrying firearms after two recent shooting deaths at Fairfax and Reseda high schools. Los Angeles Unified School District policy holds that any student who brings a gun--including toy guns--or other weapon on campus can be suspended. The school district ultimately decides whether the student will be expelled.
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