Students Arrested After Handguns Found In Illinois High School

Tuesday, August 28th 2007, 6:56 pm

By: News On 6

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) _ A tip led police to six handguns in a high school locker and the arrest of three students early Tuesday, said police who were investigating why the weapons were brought into the building.

Police said they aren't sure what the teenagers had in mind, since there no threat was made, there was no ammunition and the guns were left in a locker as classes started at Pontiac High School.

The building was locked down and all students were kept in classrooms after someone alerted a police officer on campus about the guns.

``When we are told that student A has guns, we immediately went to student A's area, his locker, and sure enough, there were guns there,'' Police Chief Dale Newsome said.

Newsome said he didn't know where the guns came from, but he speculated it could be easy since the school is in a farming community of about 11,800 about 80 miles southwest of Chicago and about 60 miles northwest of Champaign.

``It would not be uncommon for the parents of these children to have weapons,'' the police chief said.

The three teens were arrested on campus at the 900-student school.

Prosecutor Thomas Brown declined to identify the three students because they were juveniles. He wasn't sure what charges they could face.

It was unclear how the students knew one another, investigators said.

The school has received threats of violence in the past that led to other students' arrests, but those cases didn't appear to be related to Tuesday's case, said police Maj. Jim Woolford.

After the school was locked down, worried families gathered nearby.

``I got up there right away,'' said Nancy Wooldridge, whose 17-year-old daughter is a senior at the school. ``We all decided we weren't going to leave until we knew our kids were safe.''

An officer briefed them regularly, trying to reassure them, Wooldridge said, but ``I wanted to feel her in my arms to definitely know that she was OK.''

Classes are expected to resume Wednesday.