Student Brings Loaded Gun to Riverdale High School

A student at Clayton County’s Riverdale High School has been arrested after bringing a gun to school this morning.Broadcast Version

  It started around 10 a.m. Friday with a fight between two students in the hallway. According to school system spokesperson Vicky Gavalas, “A teacher and a school security officer were trying to diffuse the situation between the two students. They pulled the students into another room, at which point, in trying to separate the student, a gun fell out that was on the person of one of the students.”

Gavalas says the 9 mm gun was loaded.

Police have charged the student with possession of a weapon by a minor, a felony.

Both students in the fight face misdemeanor charges of fighting, simple battery and disruption of school.

Neither student’s name has been released because they are both minors.

Gavalas says the school has one metal detector, and it does work. However, she says, it is not used every day because scanning each student would take up too much instructional time. Gavalas says school officials use the metal detector only for random checks or if there is a tip someone has a weapon on campus.

She says the school was on lockdown for a little over an hour.