Bartlesville Parents Upset By Report Of Student With Gun

Several parents in Bartlesville are upset after a student showed up at Madison Middle School with a gun.

They said the district left them in the dark. 

"I feel like we did everything we knew to do at the time,” said Kerri Ickleberry with the Bartlesville School District. “Things happen so fast, you get information and then you start assimilating it."

Bartlesville Police said someone called the school towards the end of the day saying one of the students inside had a gun.

2/5/2018 Related Story: Bartlesville Teen Arrested For Handgun Possession

"Our officers were on their way within about four or five minutes," Captain Jay Hastings said. "None of the information through our investigation has revealed that there was ever a threat at the school or to school children. Apparently, it had something to do with a fight with a 18-year-old kid at another location."

School officials stopped the student as he was getting ready to head to the bus. When they asked to search his backpack, he ran. School officials locked the doors behind him.

Officers arrested the 14-year-old minutes later and found the gun he ditched hidden close to the school.

"I am very thankful every day when no one is hurt," Ickleberry said.

The news came as a shock to parents who received an email from the district, saying the school received a call about a student having a gun on campus but that no gun was found.

School officials said it was a communication error between those at the school and the district's public relations person, who was not at the school.

"At that time, our PR person was not aware that a gun had been found. It took a while for that information to get back to him," said Ickleberry.

Two hours later, parents received a second email with a detailed explanation of what happened during the day.

"We had to still figure out what was going on," Ickleberry said. "I know, as a parent, it's never quick enough, and one of the things our district wants to do is figure out how to get that information out much faster."

Bartlesville police said they are still investigating whether the gun the 14-year-old had at school was stolen.

Officers said the school acted quickly and that their procedure worked. They said it took about 13 minutes from the time the school received reports of the student to the time he taken into custody.