WOLCOTT -- Wolcott superintendent of schools said police found a student in possession of a handgun on school grounds Friday.
In a statement issued to families of Wolcott schools, superintendent Tony Gasper, said Wolcott Police Department has been conducting an investigation regarding one of their high school students.
"Based on their investigation and evidence, they have concluded that a student was in possession of a handgun on school grounds on Friday, January 19th. I would like to stress that, at no time did the student speak about, purposely show, or use the weapon to threaten any student or staff member," said Gasper.
Gasper added, "We treat such matters as the highest priority and have been cooperating fully with Chief Stephens and his department. The student will not be returning to school in the foreseeable future."
Gasper said they believe that it was a "very isolated event and that there is no further threat to our schools’ safety."
Wolcott police said they arrested the student in question. An anonymous tip claimed the juvenile had a gun on a school bus. After checking the bus' surveillance, detectives said the gun fell out of the students pocket.
Detectives searched the student's social media accounts and found him bragging about bringing a gun to school. They also found a picture of the student with a gun in his waistband wearing the same clothes he did on Friday during school.
Police obtained a search warrant and found a loaded gun underneath the student's bed.
He is being held in a juvenile detention center in Bridgeport and is being charged with two weapon's felonies, breach of peace and bringing a weapon onto school grounds.
Wolcott mayor Thomas Dunn released the following statement:
"We're working closely with the Wolcott Police Department on this. We're glad they were able to find the gun and get it out of that individual's hands. It's a sad incident; we don't ever want to see this kind of thing happen, but we're just glad that nothing really bad happened at the school.
It's something everyone fears and we're glad we got ahead of it before something tragic happened. Our detectives worked with the Waterbury Police to ensure that this had a good outcome."