Police: East High student arrested after gun, ammo recovered from backpack
Dec 17, 2021, 1:20 PM | Updated: 2:32 pm
FILE PHOTO
SALT LAKE CITY — Officials with the Salt Lake City Police Department said they recovered a gun and ammunition from a backpack at East High School on Friday and one student has been taken into custody.
Police said their investigation began after East High School administrators alerted SLCPD school resource officers about a social media post reportedly depicting an East High School student holding a gun.
“When the student arrived at the school, officers contacted the student in the office and took them into custody,” police said. “During the search of the student’s backpack, officers located a handgun and ammunition.”
The student was taken to the Salt Lake Valley Detention Center and officials said the student will be referred to the 3rd District Juvenile Court for prosecution.
Anyone with additional information on this case should call police at 801-799-3000 and reference case No. 21-231186.
NOW: “We need to stop allowing children to have such easy access to guns,” says SLC Police Chief Mike Brown.
Says quick action today resulted in officers recovering a gun and ammunition brought to East High School by a student. @KSL5TV @kslnewsradio @KSLcom pic.twitter.com/3Si0LqhJVV
— Ladd Egan (@laddegan) December 17, 2021
Extra police officers were at several Utah schools on Friday after threats of violence spread across social media. The San Juan School District moved classes online Friday after a suspicious device was found at a school, and police are investigating after threats were written on the walls of bathroom stalls in junior high schools in Midvale and Murray.
Doug Perry with the Murray School District said they investigating the image shown below, saying it wasn’t written anywhere in the school but spread on social media after a student added “hillcrest wildnin” as a caption. The image had been circulating across the country ahead of Friday.
Perry said a note was written on a bathroom stall at Riverview Junior High, and they identified the student through security cam footage and a confession. Kristin Reardon with the Murray Police Department said the female student “admitted she did it for attention,” and she will face charges.
