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Southfield Student Who Brought Loaded Gun To School Wednesday Charged As Juvenile

(CBS DETROIT)- School closed today at the Southfield Regional Academic Academy Campus and police are present, this after a student brought a gun to school yesterday, many schools in Southeast Michigan also closed due to some online threats, just as a safety precaution.

"It was a good idea for all of the school systems to kind of like take a time out," said Natalie Hamblin a concerned parent of a high school 9th grader.

First COVID closes schools, now threats circulating on-line of copycat shooters following Tuesday's deadly rampage that left 4 Oxford High School students dead and several others injured forced over a dozen Southeast school districts to cancel classes Thursday.

Natalie Hamblin has a daughter in the 9th grade and says, this is all overwhelming for them both.

"Scared about you know just being a freshman, dealing with COVID, on top of all the other external factors that's going on in the world right now," Hamblin said.

She was surprised her daughters' school in Livonia didn't close today, however many in the area did including Novi, Troy and Southfield where they are dealing with an even bigger issue today.

"Arrest of a 17-year-old a student of Southfield Regional Academic Academy who we found in possession of a handgun while inside the school," said Southfield's Police Chief Elvin Barren.

Chief Barren says the gun was found in the student's coat pocket on Wednesday after a search by the school's resource officer.

"The weapon was attached with a magazine and 3 bullets, it was no bullets in the chamber," Barren said.

The student was taken into custody without incident, but the question of why he had the weapon and where he received it is being investigated.

Barren says guns should never be in schools and they're taking the matter very serious, especially in light of the recent Oxford shootings and online threats that closed many schools today.

"I was concerned and will continue to be concerned at this time it does not appear that any of these threats are credible, we will continue to monitor those," Barren said.

With so much going on, parents continuing to monitor how their children are coping with this.

"It's very important for you to talk to your child to kind of see where they're at, mentality daily just dealing with these things," Hamlin said.

The Southfield student was charged as a juvenile with one count of carrying a concealed weapon and is currently housed in Children's Village.

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