A middle school student was arrested and booked into Juvenile Hall after police say they were in possession of a gun on a Chula Vista campus.
Chula Vista police were called to Castle Park Middle School before 11 a.m. and found the student at a meeting in administrative offices. A school resource officer searched the student, who was cooperative, and found a firearm, CVPD said.
The student was booked into Juvenile Hall. The charges against the student were not disclosed due to their age.
Some middle school parents in the Sweetwater Unified School District are breathing a collective sigh of relief after a gun brought to school on Monday was recovered before it was used against someone.
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Nina Hermosillo, the school's principal, said in a email to family members the firearm was confiscated. The email indicates a student became aware that another middle schooler was in possession of the weapon and alerted administrators. They called 911.
Police haven’t identified the student, but a student at Castle Park, Aaron Liton, says he saw police in front of the school while on a restroom break in building 200. Officers were patting down an older male student, maybe an eighth grader, who was handcuffed and taken into custody.
"I saw the kid walking with the police officers. They were driving him. They even checked if he had anything else,“ Aaron Liton said.
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In part of the emailed letter to parents, the principal wrote: “We ask that you speak with your children about the dangers of firearms and the consequences of owning them. We also alert all of the other members of our community to inform any suspicious behavior.”
“I don’t think that is OK," said Aaron Liton, a student at Castle Park. "Why did he need to bring a gun to school?”
A number of Sweetwater Unified parents are talking to their kids about the incident, including Aaron Liton and his father, Jose.
“I pick up my son all the time and check with the teacher to ask what’s going. I talk with him,” Jose Liton said.
“It scares me because it’s not the first time that there is something going on in this school,“ parent Silvia Hinojosa said.
Parents say students at the school are at a tender age, too young for this behavior, but they have not let their guard down.
