Fake weapon discovery leads to arrest of 13-year-old at Fishers Junior High

FISHERS, Ind. (WRTV) — A 13-year-old student at Fishers Junior High was arrested after school staff on Tuesday found an imitation firearm in his backpack, the Fishers Police Department said in a news release issued Tuesday afternoon.

The boy was not identified in the release.

School employees learned the boy might have a fake weapon and alerted the school resource officer. Police and school administrators investigated the report and found the fake weapon inside the student’s bag. The release did not say what type of fake weapon was found.

The school is at 13257 Cumberland Road, just northeast of the 131st Street roundabout.

A new Indiana law has outlawed imitation firearms on school property or on school buses. Rep. Steve Bartels, R-Eckerty, authored the law. It passed the House 65-29 with four excused and two not voting, and the Senate 37-11, with one excused and one not voting. The governor signed the measure into law March 4.

Police took the fake weapon as evidence and arrested the student on a preliminary charge of possession of an imitation firearm on school property or a school bus. It’s a mid-level misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in county jail and a maximum $1,000 fine. The Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office will determine whether to file a criminal charge.

Fishers Junior High staff will handle any disciplinary actions against the student, police said. The school has more than 800 students in grades 7 and 8.