By Allen Edmonds
allen@northcassherald.com
Belton Police school resource officers were notified just after noon today that a student had brought a gun to the Belton Middle School, and had hidden it in the gym area.
The gun was recovered safely, and no one was injured. A 14-year-old was referred to the Cass County Juvenile Office as a result of the incident. The Belton Police Department and the Belton School District area continuing to investigate the incident.
This follows a Saturday night incident which turned out to be unfounded, but caused a significant degree of concern at the Raymore-Peculiar High School Homecoming Dance.
According to a letter sent by high school principal Steven Miller to parents on Sunday, rumors began to circulate during the dance that an individual had posted a threat on social media to bring a weapon to the event. A student first reported the “threat” to student officials, but under further questioning, told officials she had not seen the threat herself, but had heard about it by text from another student.
“The text conversations among students then began to spread very quickly, and each time we personally visited with a student, his or her recollection of the issue came from a similar text conversation with friends saying they had heard about a post on social media as well. At no time, however, was an actual post of a threat ever provided or found,” Miller said in the communication with parents.
The dance continued without interruption, however, an individual also made a 911 call to local law enforcement, “that there was a weapon on campus which prompted the local authorities to immediately dispatch several personnel to the high school for precautionary reasons,” Miller said.
“Please rest assured that the safety of our students and/or staff was never compromised,” Miller said. “In fact, your student may not even have been aware that this incident occurred.”