Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 26, 1992 TAG: 9203260264
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Short
Authorities said Wednesday the 17-year-old boy apparently had planned to trade the shotgun to another student for a hunting knife.
The county Sheriff's Department has confiscated the sawed-off, single-barrel shotgun.
Sheriff Russell Quesenberry said juvenile petitions have been obtained charging the student with possession of a sawed-off shotgun and having a firearm on school property.
The boy was suspended from school.
Quesenberry said the shotgun belonged to the boy. The barrel, normally 28 inches long, had been sawed down to an illegal 11 1/2 inches. The minimum is 18 inches.
"The student brought the shotgun to school to participate in a trade for another item," said Superintendent Omar Ross. "It was not brought to the school for malicious use."
He said the principal and assistant principal found the shotgun after another student complained last week that the boy had a knife.
The principals went to the boy's locker looking for the knife and found the gun, Ross said. No ammunition was found.
"This is a first for us. If there was a malicious intent, I think he would have had some cartridges with it," Ross said. "Obviously, he didn't use very good judgment" by bringing the weapon to school.
The student's case will be reviewed by the Floyd County School Board on Friday, Ross said. The identity of the student who was going to trade his knife for the sawed-off shotgun was not known, he said.
by CNB