A summer-school day at Hammond High in Columbia took a sharp turn Thursday when a 15-year-old student was arrested after a school resource officer recovered an unloaded handgun on campus, officials said. Another student reported seeing a classmate with a gun, prompting the officer to track down and search the teen. Howard County Police took the student into custody on a series of weapons violations. Police said no threats were made and no one was injured.
How police say the weapon was found
According to WBAL NewsRadio, a student alerted the school resource officer after spotting what appeared to be a firearm. The officer then located the 15-year-old, who is from Columbia and enrolled in Hammond High's summer session, and recovered an unloaded handgun. WBAL reports the teen was taken into custody and is facing multiple weapons-related charges.
School rules and the SRO role
The Howard County Public School System bans weapons on school property and directs staff to contact law enforcement any time a weapon is discovered. Howard County Public School System policies outline how searches are conducted, how incidents are reported and documented, and what discipline may follow. The same rules lay out expectations for school resource officers, including when cases must be referred to police or other authorities.
Legal implications
Federal rules tied to the Gun-Free Schools Act require any district that receives federal funding to have policies that can include expulsion and referral to criminal authorities when a student is found with a firearm. Those expulsions can be adjusted case by case, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. How prosecutors in this case move forward will depend on the investigation and state law, and early reports described the charges only as weapons violations.
What comes next
Howard County police told WBAL NewsRadio that the teen remains in custody while the investigation continues. The school system has not released any information about possible school discipline. District officials and police have said they will share more details as they become available. No parents, staff members or students were reported injured in the incident.
