Student suspended after toy gun found at Jackson Careers & Technology School

JACKSON, Tenn. — For the second day, a gun scare takes place inside a Jackson-Madison County school.

“As a parent, I would have picked up my children because of what was going on because it terrified me,” parent Tremaine A. said.

Thursday morning, a Jackson Careers and Technology Elementary student told the principal another student had brought a gun inside the school.

According to the sheriff’s office, the 11-year-old was on the bus heading to school when he pulled the toy gun out of his backpack to show it to his friends.

“It was reported to the teacher, principal and our SRO,” Madison County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Tom Mapes said. “Come to find out, it was a play gun, but it looked very authentic.”

The toy gun was found in the student’s backpack and confiscated by a school resource officer. With a high schooler bringing an actual gun to Liberty Tech Wednesday, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office is asking parents to pay attention to what leaves the house.

“Parents, let’s start checking these backpacks,” Mapes said. “Find out what the kids are bringing to school. This kid was 11 years old.”

Off camera, a JCT student says Thursday morning an announcement was made for students to stay in their classrooms, but they didn’t know why. One parent says she did get a phone call about the incident but says her kids should have been notified.

“And my children don’t know nothing about it,” Tremaine said.

Although having a toy gun isn’t a criminal offense, the district has a zero-tolerance weapons policy, even for fake ones.

“We just need to educate our kids more on not having anything to do with firearms or anything that looks like that,” Mapes said.

According to the district, the student’s parents were notified and he has been suspended.