Multiple students found with guns in Marion County schools during first month of school

Within the first few weeks of school for central Indiana, students have been found on school grounds with guns or firearm paraphernalia more than half a dozen times.

The students range in age from as young as an elementary student in the Clark-Pleasant Community Schools district to high school students in multiple schools in Marion County.

State data shows that in recent years more students are carrying guns with them to school, raising concerns about students' safety and the availability of firearms to children.

Those who work closely with at-risk youth in high-crime areas of Indianapolis say that they believe the problem has only gotten worse in recent years.

“It’s to the point where even our college-bound students are protecting themselves,” said Anthony Beverly, the director of Stop the Violence Indianapolis, a group centered on empowering youth in high-crime and high-poverty areas of the city.

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Valerie McCray, a clinical psychologist who provides counseling to the youth in the Stop the Violence Indianapolis group, said she believes that schools are not providing students with the tools they need to succeed after graduation.

“These kids are not being prepared for life,” said McCray, a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate. “These are grown men who grow fast but then don’t have the skills that match that, and the skills they do have are guns and learning how to do the streets.”

Two of the incidents this school year involved Indianapolis students having guns with machine gun conversion devices attached, also more commonly known as a Glock switch. One of those incidents occurred at North Central High School and another involved two students at KIPP Legacy High School

Devin Murrell works with the Stop the Violence Indianapolis group to help other at-risk youth and told IndyStar that kids carry guns so they can feel safe and because they want to seem cool.

“That’s what kids see as cool nowadays because of music, the culture and social media glorifies it,” Murrell said.

A Warren Township student was arrested on Aug. 15 for having a gun on school property after students shared with school police photos that the student had posted on social media of him posing with the gun.

When questioned by police, the student said the gun belonged to his friend and he took the picture because he thought the gun was “beautiful,” according to a probable cause affidavit.

On Aug. 10, a student at the Sidener Academy for High Ability Students in the Indianapolis Public Schools district which serves students in second grade through eighth grade – the district’s highest performing school – was found with an empty gun clip at school.

Increase of guns in schools in Marion County

Firearms have increasingly been found on school grounds in Marion County.

According to student discipline data from the Indiana Department of Education, the number of incidents involving students disciplined for having a firearm at school rose from around 40 per year in Marion County schools from 2018-2020 to 57 last year.

State law prohibits guns on school campuses, but Beverly said Indiana’s permit-less gun carry law – which has now been in effect for a little over a year – has played a role in the increase of guns in schools.

“(The youth) think that it's okay now, that everybody can have a gun,” Beverly said.

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Lawrence Central High School senior Kai Clements said these recent incidents have caused him to start thinking more about the issue of guns in school.

“Instead of just continuing to focus on my educational goals, I have to be thinking what can I do for safety in the back of my mind,” Clements told IndyStar.

How to stop the problem

Most of the incidents of guns being found in schools result in the students being disciplined with out-of-school suspension or expelled from the school.

Many of Marion County’s school districts' student codes of conduct require that students be expelled for one year if they are found with a firearm or any other deadly weapons that could be used to cause serious bodily injury on school property.

The rise in guns on school campuses has led some school districts to enact policies to try to prevent guns from ever getting into schools.

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In Perry Township the district bought a $1.5 million AI weapons detection system to use in both of their high schools. Decatur Township students are required to use clear backpacks starting this school year.

Lawrence North High School senior Kye Benford understands that preventing gun violence can be difficult but said he thinks state legislators have a role to play in keeping students safe.

“I think we should rely on the state government to make stricter gun laws that make it harder for people to obtain (guns). That way it significantly reduces the risk for shootings,” Benford said.

Schools are not the only places where Indianapolis youth have access to guns, which at times has led to deadly consequences.

Just last week an 11-year-old accidentally shot and killed himself on the east side of Indianapolis. The shooting follows what police have said is a skyrocketing number of accidental shootings this year, with one-quarter of non-fatal, unintentional shootings by mid-year involving juveniles.

Through his years of work with helping at-risk kids in Indianapolis, Beverly said the most effective strategy he has seen is listening to the kids directly affected by the gun violence.

“It’s about allowing the kids to be the experts,” Beverly said. “We have to listen to what their heart's desire is, and ask creative questions that help to draw out of them what they already know.”

Police and the Marion County Sherriff’s Office have given away about 100 free gun locks on July 2 and Indianapolis Public Library branches also offer gun locks during regular hours.

IndyStar reporter Sarah Nelson contributed to this reporting.

Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolineB_Indy.

Caroline’s reporting is made possible by Report for America and Glick Philanthropies. As part of its work in Marion County, Glick Philanthropies partners with organizations focused on closing access and achievement gaps in education.

Report for America is a program of The GroundTruth Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening local newsrooms. Report for America provides funding for up to half of the reporter’s salary during their time with us, and IndyStar is fundraising the remainder.

To learn more about how you can support IndyStar’s partnership with Report for America and to make a donation, visit indystar.com/RFA.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: As school year begins, more guns show up in Marion County schools