The incident occurred on Atascadero High School grounds and involved a firearm

ATASCADERO — On Friday, March 3, students reported to school staff that a juvenile male had posted a Snapchat while holding a firearm in what appeared to be one of the restrooms at Atascadero High School (AHS).

“First of all, we always want to be super appreciative and grateful to the people that reported that. It was fantastic that they did so. As a result, administrative staff and law enforcement did a fantastic job and immediately determined that there was no threat to the high school and then also immediately conducted a successful investigation,” stated Atascadero Unified School District’s Superintendent Tom Butler.

The case was handled by the School Resource Officer, and the student, when contacted, did not have the firearm in his possession at the time. However, the juvenile did admit to having possession of his father’s gun on campus. 

The incident was isolated, and Butler stressed that, as always, they took this incident seriously.

“I was very pleased with the speedy, timely, perfectional response of our administrative team, as well as law enforcement, here locally. And then also we always apply the appropriate and significant discipline to these situations,” added Butler.

The firearm was recovered from the juvenile’s home, off campus, and a case was filed with juvenile probation for possession of a firearm at a public school.

“I think one of the ways that we keep our campuses safe is to continually have a vigilant community where anyone in our community sees something that is concerning or questions potentially the behavior of anybody in our community report it. And thats’ how we’re able to keep a safe school,” concluded Butler.