Loaded Gun Found In Student's Backpack At Owasso High School

Owasso Police arrested a 16-year-old boy for bringing a loaded gun to the high school. Another student saw it and told a counselor, who then contacted a school resource officer.

Police said the boy told them he forgot the gun was in his backpack and that there were no signs the student meant to harm anyone.

The district sent an alert out to parents shortly after school started saying a student had a gun in his backpack at the high school and was detained by police, but parent Shon Alvarez said he didn’t know anything until his son called him.

"He called me and said that they had just caught a kid with a fully-loaded automatic weapon at school. And I was like, I haven't heard anything about it," Alvarez said.

Superintendent Dr. Amy Fichtner said parents have to opt-in to the app to see the messages. She said notifying parents was one of their first priorities.

"We immediately sent out a message to our parents," Fichtner said.

The school district said a student told a counselor she believed another student might have a gun in his backpack.

"The student who reported this to a counselor did a very brave thing. They did the right thing," the superintendent said.

Owasso Police said the student resource officer quickly stepped in, found a loaded handgun in the backpack and detained the student.

"In this situation, it ended rather uneventfully, even though it could have ended otherwise," Fichtner said.

The superintendent said many students, like Payton Compton, didn’t even know something had happened.

"I wasn't, like, scared necessarily, I was more just concerned as to why they didn't say anything or tell us what was going on," she said.

Compton said teachers addressed the situation in third hour to reassure students everything was fine.

Fichtner said the number one priority from the get-go was making sure students were safe, and she believes they did that.

Police said the report will be sent to the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office, which will decide if criminal charges will be filed.