Gun Found in Backpack of Student at Tennessee Middle School

A student has been arrested after a gun was found in an eighth-grader's locker at a Tennessee middle school Thursday morning, the Daily News Journal reports.

An email sent to parents from Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans reports that a Blackman Middle School student has been arrested and expelled under the district's zero tolerance policy.

The school administration received information that a student had a weapon on campus around 11 a.m., Evans said. The administration and a school resource officer questioned the student and his belongings were searched.

The resource officer charged the student with carrying a weapon on school property. The student was taken to juvenile detention, according to Rutherford County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Lisa Marchesoni.

The handgun was found inside the student's backpack, which was inside his locker. The gun was unloaded, although ammunition was also recovered from inside the bag.

"I know these situations frighten parents, but we want to thank you and your students for continuing to be vigilant and for reporting any suspicious activity you see," Evans said in the email. "Doing so is one of the best ways to assist us with maintaining safe campuses."

The weapon was immediately confiscated. Information on where the student acquired the gun was not immediately available.

Marchesoni said students were never considered to be in harm's way.

Blackman Middle School is in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, about 35 miles southeast of Nashville.

The arrest comes while schools tighten disciplinary responses to threats of weapons on school grounds. Zachary Cruz, the brother of the Parkland, Florida school shooter, was arrested for trespassing on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and two other students at the school were arrested for bringing knives to the school.

Cruz was arrested on Monday afternoon by the Broward County Sheriff's Office for trespassing at the school, according to a report by The Palm Beach Post. The 18-year-old said he went to the campus to "reflect on the school shooting and soak it in," according to an arrest report acquired by the outlet.

The sheriff's office told reporters that Cruz rode his skateboard through campus at around 4:30 p.m. on Monday. The teen reportedly bypassed a number of locked doors and gates, despite having been warned to stay away from the campus. Both school officials and police have instructed him not to enter Stoneman Douglas High since the shooting.

Later in the week, students Jordan Salter and Gavin Stricker were taken into police custody after they allegedly brought weapons onto the campus of the school.

Salter, 18, reportedly got into an argument with another student. According to an arrest form, at some point during the argument, the teen "reached inside of her bra and pulled out a 2-inch black handle knife, unfolded the knife and showed it" to the student she was arguing with.

Stricker, a 17-year-old sophomore at the school, was also arrested after "a nine-inch knife was found in his backpack," the Broward County Sheriff's Office reported.