A Texas school district took action against a male student last week after an old photo of him holding a handgun was posted on Facebook.
The exact age and grade of the Iola Independent School District student are not noted in the article by KBTX-TV. However, the boy likely is of middle school age as the report says the photo is from four years ago — when the boy was nine years-old.
The photo depicts the boy and an adult “shooting in the country.”
According to school officials, the fact that the post had the word “school” in it is what caused alarm.
“[W]e take that stuff very seriously here, said Iola Superintendent Scott Martindale. “As we investigated we found out the picture was a four-year-old picture. [The post] did not threaten the school whatsoever it just mentioned the school,” he added.
The district and law enforcement said no gun was found after the boy was questioned.
“It took us five minutes to handle this situation and handle it appropriately,” said Martindale. “It was before school started. We had two younger students report something to our elementary principal. By 7:55 the elementary principal tracked that student down that had the posting,” he added.
“I believe they took the correct action to protect our children,” said Danny Lemley, who has two children in the district.
He’s also a new school board member and was part of their safety council.
The district recently adopted a guardian plan to arm some staff.
“It was a hard decision to come to that but the times that we’re having now… It seems to be correct with the times that we need to take precautions to guard our children,” Lemley said.
Lt. Daniel Wagnon of the Grimes County Sheriff’s Office reiterated the issue was not the gun, but that “school” was mentioned “in conjunction with a firearm” in the Facebook post.
The situation was severe enough that the boy was disciplined by the district, and the County Attorney is investigating further.
MORE: He held an unloaded gun off-campus. His school didn’t like it
MORE: Middle school assignment: Write gun control letters to congressmen
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.