Two Athens high school students charged with bringing gun to campus

By Chelsea Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two students at Cedar Shoals High School in Athens were charged after bringing an unloaded gun on campus Wednesday, police said.

A 16-year-old male student is believed to have brought the handgun to school in his backpack, said Athens-Clarke County police spokeswoman Hilda Sorrow. A third student saw him putting it in a 15-year-old female student's backpack, and she knowingly carried the backpack away, Sorrow said.

The third student then notified a security guard, who called police.

"The backpack was searched where they found the gun, unloaded, and they also found a small amount of marijuana on the young man," Sorrow said.

The two were then transported to the Athens youth detention center. Both students were charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds, and the male student was charged with possession of marijuana, she said.

Phone messages to Cedar Shoals principal Ingrid Gilbert were not immediately returned.

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