KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An investigation is ongoing and three teenagers have been charged after reports of a gun at West High School on Thursday, according to the Knoxville Police Department.
As a result, KPD said three juveniles were charged with theft of a firearm and possession of a weapon on school grounds.
"What's interesting about the juvenile system is it generally tries to focus on rehabilitation," said Marcos Garza, an attorney. "And assuming these three juveniles don't have, you know, extensive records of other past crimes or delinquent acts — they will probably try to rehabilitate them. Now, in terms of whether they go back to school, I'm pretty sure that Knox County has a pretty zero-tolerance sort of approach. So, I don't think there'll be back to school this year, at all, and also to given the fact that these are deadly weapons."
He says it's likely that they will get charged as juveniles, instead of facing a court as an adult.
"In order for them to be charged as an adult, there would have to be what's called a 'transfer hearing.' And that's where a judge determines if there are sufficient criteria in order for them to be moved into adult court. Usually, that criteria or that analysis includes things about, you know, what's their prior record look like? What's the seriousness of the offense? Quite frankly, did anybody get hurt?" said Garza.
KPD said during a search on campus, a gun was not found but there is evidence that suggests the gun was present at some point. They reiterated no evidence suggests that at any time, there was a safety threat to students or the school.
Katherine Bike, representative for the 4th District on the Knox County Board of Education, shared a statement with WBIR through email. That statement is below.
"The incident yesterday at West High School is unfortunate. I know parents and the community were worried, myself included. I'm thankful that KPD and KCS security were on site with a plan so quickly and that it was not worse. These incidents are disruptive to the learning environment and I'm hopeful that we will find solutions to prevent them. I ask the community to learn about and implement safe gun storage so that students do not have access to firearms."
The Chief of Communications for Knox County Schools said the district is not able to comment on anything other than what is already released because the incident is still under investigation.