Despite insisting in a written statement that they “told other students I was just joking,” a North Branch student may be in hot water after a classmate reported to the school’s assistant principal Thursday that the student claimed to have a gun in their gym locker.
The supposed joke was made Wednesday during gym class, after the student became upset with another student. When reported on February 16, law enforcement was immediately contacted, with the student being secured in the high school office during both the school’s and law enforcement’s investigations.
After a thorough search of the student, their assigned lockers and possessions, no weapon was found, with the parents being contacted to pick the student up.
Despite the insistence that it was just a joke, the student will not be allowed to return to school until law enforcement has completed the investigation and verified that the student had no actual intent to harm classmates.
North Branch Superintendent James Fish noted in a letter home to parents that “[s]taff and student safety will remain our top priority and inappropriate comments or threats made of any type will be taken seriously and turned over to law enforcement.”
