Two Lovejoy High School students are in police custody after a gun was found on campus.
Clayton County school police locked down the school Wednesday morning to search for the weapon, according to school officials.
A .22-caliber handgun was found in the locker, and two boys were taken into custody, Clayton County Schools spokeswoman Vicki Gavalas told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“The student admitted to finding a gun in the community and bringing it to school,” Gavalas said. “The other student concealed it in (his) locker.”
Gavalas said the student who claimed to have found the gun hid it outside the school to avoid detection during the morning weapons sweep, then “retrieved it at a later time.”
The gun was not loaded, according to Channel 2 Action News.
A third student overheard the two male juvenile students talking about the gun and reported it to school officials.
This is the second handgun in two weeks discovered at a Clayton County school.
On Feb. 28, school officials found a loaded 9 mm handgun at Riverdale High School, leading to a lockdown of the campus.
School security officers were trying to detain a student when the weapon fell from the student’s pocket, according to reports.
Clayton school officials have instituted a “zero-tolerance” policy for bringing firearms or replica guns to schools, Gavalas said.
“Students bringing weapons into school system will be disciplined, and as appropriate, (will be) prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” she said.
Gavalas noted the circumstances at a Douglas County middle school on Tuesday, where school officials there found a replica pistol because a student informed authorities.
Two juvenile students were taken into custody after the find, authorities said.
Gavalas compared the Yeager Middle School incident to what happened at Lovejoy High, and the common thread that lead to a resolution.
“It just speaks to the partnership between student and staff, and we encourage people, if you see something, say something,” she said.
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