LATHROP, Mo. — Leaders in the Lathrop School District confirmed that a student pulled a weapon during lunch Friday at the middle school, and was quickly apprehended.
According to a district official FOX 4 spoke to, the gun was not loaded and the principal was able to get the gun from the student. FOX 4’s Robert Townsend reports that the student is a 13-year-old boy and he is now in juvenile custody at the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, which is handling the investigation. Authorities believe the boy is in seventh grade.
“You know, it happens and you hope it never happens in your school,” Superintendent Chris Fine said. “We prepare for these things and they do drills for those, but its still isn’t anything like the real thing.”
Kalysta Casey, an eighth grader at the school, said the boy pulled out the gun and told everyone to stay put.
“He started pointing it at every student in the cafeteria and everyone was freaking out,” she said. “There were a few students who were crying and some were just freaking out.”
A neighbor who watched the activity at the school messaged FOX 4 that, “There’s one trooper left. Most of the children are being picked up by parents right now.”
Lathrop is about 40 miles from Kansas City, north of Kearney and south of Cameron.
