Hot Springs police apprehended a 16-year-old high school student Tuesday morning and said officers found a semi-automatic pistol with a fully loaded magazine in his backpack.
The Police Department said in a news release that the Hot Springs High School student posted photos of himself and a handgun on social media. A parent of a different student saw the post, realized it was taken at the school and alerted administrators.
School administrators then informed police of the situation a little past 10:30 a.m. They arrived at the school and took the student into custody without incident.
Officer Joey Williams, a spokesman for Hot Springs police, said the student didn’t “indicate why he brought [the gun] to school.”
Police charged the teen with possession of a handgun on school property, a felony, and possession of a handgun as a minor, a misdemeanor. He was taken to the Garland County juvenile detention center, where he is being held without bail.
Tuesday marked the second consecutive day that authorities responded to a central Arkansas student with a weapon at school. A Little Rock Central High School student will face discipline after bringing knives to school Monday, a district spokesman said.
Authorities dealt with a similar incident during the previous school year. In April, police found a loaded gun in a Hot Springs High School student's backpack, the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record previously reported.
