Plastic Gun Prompts 12-Year-Old to Be Arrested in Port Barre

Officials in Port Barre arrested a 12-year-old student for allegedly terrorizing other students with a plastic gun according to KLFY.

According to officials with the Port Barre Police Department teachers at a school there got word that a student had a plastic gun on a school campus. They took the item away.

Police Chief Deon Boudreaux says that there was some type of verbal altercation between this student and two others previously. On Tuesday, the plastic gun was taken from the student.

Boudreaux says we live in a time and age when violence among younger people or even threats of violence are not uncommon. He told Channel 10,

Although this pistol is not a real firearm, we must take these types of investigations seriously. The toy pistol is very realistic looking and can certainly cause others to be in fear of it.

Boudreaux says the student was charged with the attempt to terrorize or menace after they did their investigation at the school.

Chief Boudreaux says he is a proponent of having officers at every school, but most of the time the issue gets lost because it's not in the budget. He is quoted on their Facebook page,

In my opinion, there should be police officers assigned and stationed at every school. The biggest obstacle is funding. Particularly, small towns, and rural low-income, low-economically developed parishes cannot afford to place a police officer in every school.

 

.