A Marion County school resource officer was called into action at a Belleview school on Thursday when a student threatened to “shoot up a school bus.”
The resource officer, who is a Marion County Sheriff’s deputy, was told by the assistant principal of discipline at Belleview Middle School that the student made the threat while being taken home on the bus last Wednesday. The student was then called to the office at the school, located at 10500 SE 36th Ave. in Belleview, where his belongings were searched and no weapons were found, the report says.
The student said that while riding the bus a small stick fell through his window and he was attempting to throw it back outside when he was caught by the driver, who said she was going to give him a referral for throwing things out the bus window, the report says.
The student initially denied making threats to shoot up the bus but admitted to it later in the day. The assistant principal and other staff members then performed a risk assessment on the student, which came back as low risk, the report says.
The deputy spoke with the student’s guardian and advised her of the incident. The guardian told the deputy that the student actually lives with his stepmother, who also was called and told another deputy would be stopping by her residence to make sure no weapons were accessible to the middle-schooler, the report says.
The resource officer also emailed the sheriff’s office’s crisis intervention specialists to make them aware of the incident. The school handled disciplinary action against the student and no arrests were made, the report says.