Two schools, two guns, two teens cause for safety concerns in Puyallup

Two schools, two guns, and a lot of safety concerns in Puyallup.

In just a few days, two students brought a loaded gun on campus. Both students are only 13 and 14-years-old.

One of the guns was brought to Glacier View Junior High in Puyallup just this week. Students saw a loaded gun on campus on Tuesday.

It wasn’t until two days later on Thursday, that Elyse, a mother of 2, found out. It’s the school her 12-year-old daughter goes to.

“I was very surprised to hear that there was actually a gun incident and that there was physically a gun in the school,” said Elyse.

It wasn’t until a day after the gun was first seen, that it was reported to staff.

“It really truly feels like the school didn’t want us to know and that is concerning to me,” said Elyse.

That’s when Glacier View went into a modified lockdown, as deputies searched for the student and the gun.

They found the 13-year-old off-campus on Wednesday. He told deputies he tossed the gun in the woods next to Hunt Elementary School down the street.

“The law says we’re not allowed to interview anyone under 18-year-old without an attorney, but when it’s a life-or-death situation like this where someone can be seriously injured. We’re gonna ask those questions,” said Sergeant Darren Moss with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

Moss tells KIRO 7 News that happened less than a week after a similar incident at Ballou Junior High, just a few miles away.

Bodycam footage shows the loaded gun that deputies found on a 14-year-old student last Friday.

“I don’t want to send my kid to school because I don’t feel good about now. It’s extremely concerning,” said Elyse.

Moss says if you see something, say something.

“The biggest issue is going to be that no one says anything, and then the kids make a rash decision and pulls a gun out and uses it,” he said.

Elyse believes more needs to be done by parents at home and at school.

“They’re ultimately at fault in my mind for not being responsible enough to keep their guns out of the hands of their children,” Elyse added. “I almost feel like they should have like a metal detector process… if we’re doing that in stadiums, I don’t understand why we’re not doing that to protect our kids.”

Both students involved are expelled for at least a year.

The Puyallup School District responded to the two incidents:

Although unrelated, there were two recent incidents of firearms on campus at Ballou JH and Glacier View JH.

The Ballou incident involved a student being taken into custody and immediately expelled for no less than one full year. The incident at Glacier View is still under investigation, however the student believed to have brought a gun to school has also been expelled for no less than one full year.

Weapons were recovered in both incidents. Both situations continue to be investigated by law enforcement and school officials.

We are incredibly thankful for the swift action and responsiveness of our school resource officers and law enforcement. As always, we encourage our students and families to report something, is they hear or see something.

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