Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies on Friday arrested a 15-year-old boy who, officials said, planned to shoot one or more classmates at Watson Chapel Junior High School in Pine Bluff.
The boy, identified as a ninth-grader by district Superintendent Andrew Curry, is being held at the Jack Jones Juvenile Justice Center on probable cause for one felony count of aggravated assault, theft by receiving, possession of a controlled substance and carrying a weapon, according to sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Gary McClain.
McClain said the student planned to bring the weapon to school on Friday. Curry said Thursday that the student had been suspended from school with the possibility of expulsion.
“I am very, very grateful to the sheriff and sheriff’s office,” Curry said Friday. “Captain [Yohance] Brunson did a good job on it, and our director of security [Thaddeus Arnold]. It really could have turned into something bad, but it was intercepted by the sheriff’s office. I can’t say enough about that organization.”
Arnold was credited with contacting Brunson about the incident and threats on Thursday. Curry said in a statement that day that the suspect was seen with a firearm at the junior high school about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and had posted about it on social media that evening.
“Credible information indicated that the male juvenile was in possession of a handgun and planned to bring the gun onto the campus of Watson Chapel Junior High School today for the purpose of shooting classmate(s),” McClain wrote in his Friday news release. “Information learned indicates that the juvenile is involved in local gang activity.”
According to McClain, the teen was located in the area of the U.S. 65-Arkansas 81 intersection near Love’s Truck Stop at approximately 6:45 a.m. Friday en route to school. McClain cited the Gang Reduction Initiative of Pine Bluff, or GRIP, in his statement.
“Captain Brunson, who oversees the enforcement efforts of GRIP, assisted by Patrol Sergeant Specyal Mills and Patrol Deputy Rodney Allen, conducted a traffic stop and took the juvenile into custody,” McClain wrote. “At the time of the juvenile’s arrest [a] stolen loaded handgun and drugs were recovered in the juvenile’s possession.”
The sheriff’s office introduced GRIP, a state-funded organization aimed at suppressing gang-related activity in Jefferson County, in November, and Curry is one of its supporters.
“I am extremely proud of Capt. Brunson and the members of GRIP for their commitment for the safety of the youth within our schools,” Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr. said. “There is no more important endeavor than safeguarding the welfare of our children and youth. Creating safe and supportive schools is central to the creation of the GRIP and must be a priority for everyone. School safety is not achieved with a single program or piece of security equipment. Rather, effective school safety starts with prevention, and GRIP is committed to that and more.”
Woods said he will continue to provide for students’ mental health and engage schools, families, and communities as partners.
“We know what works,” he said, “but schools need the resources — financial and human — to implement and sustain the practices that will truly make our children and schools safe from the inside out. Although we recently learned that we were not successful in our federal grant award for GRIP funding, we are pleased with Gov. [Asa] Hutchinson and his leadership, along with Pine Bluff School District Superintendent Barbara Warren and Sixth Division Juvenile Circuit Court Judge Earnest Brown Jr., with helping secure the initial funding to begin the work of GRIP.”
Curry added that additional sheriff’s deputies were on campus Friday for extra security, and that school officials talked with students about the consequences of gun possession on campus and gang activity. It is the third time in 11 months in which the Watson Chapel School District has dealt with a reported incident involving guns.
“I don’t think you can stop it 100%, but I think you can teach them to say something and not get involved in those things,” Curry said. “At the end of the day, it’s tough. It’s a societal issue.”