A 13-year-old Waldo Middle School student was arrested after bringing a gun to school Tuesday afternoon.
Salem police on Oct. 25 arrested the boy after school security notified them of the weapon, Salem police spokeswoman Angela Hendrick said in an email. The student made no threats towards others.
The boy was lodged at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center on charges of unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon in a public building, Hendrick said. Juvenile court records are generally confidential under state law.
The Salem-Keizer School District did not notify the public of the incident or arrest, but district spokesman Aaron Harada emailed school board members and student advisors late Tuesday afternoon to inform them, according to a copy of the email sent to Salem Reporter.
“School staff acted on this tip immediately and were able to confiscate the weapon without incident,” Harada’s email said.
The email said law enforcement responded to investigate and are working with the district’s safety and security team, and that Principal Ingrid Ceballos was communicating with school families about the incident.
Harada sent a copy of Ceballos’ email to Salem Reporter Thursday morning in response to questions about the incident.
“I know this is concerning news to hear and we want to commend the individual who did the right thing and quickly reported this information to school staff. Your student is our most important priority, and we will always take every possible measure to keep them safe,” Ceballos wrote in the email.
He provided no additional information about what happened, saying other questions would have to be addressed by Salem police.
Sylvia McDaniel, the district’s director of communications and community relations, said Thursday the district doesn’t have a practice of notifying the public at large when a student brings a weapon to school or is arrested. She said families and school employees are always notified, and they often share information with media.
She said Waldo never went into lockdown Tuesday.
McDaniel said the district defers to Salem police to release information about arrests of students. She said in case of an active shooter situation or active threat to a school, the district would publicly share information after clearing it with responding police.
Discipline data presented at the Oct. 11 Salem-Keizer School Board meeting shows no other incidents of students bringing firearms to school so far this school year.
Oregon law requires school districts to expel students who bring a gun to school, except as part of a class or training program, though superintendents may modify that requirement on a case-by-case basis.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
