Student Disciplined After Bullet Found at KO Middle

A bullet found in a hallway at Keystone Oaks Middle School last week was brought into the school by a student, who now is being disciplined for the action, district officials said Thursday.

A single 9 mm bullet—but no weapons—was found near the locker area of Keystone Oaks Middle School on Oct. 19. The middle and high schools were temporarily under lockdown while the district enacted its Emergency Action Plan.

School police officer Aaron Vanatta said officials looked at surveillance footage from cameras in the middle school hallways to determine which student was responsible.

The student later admitted bringing the 9mm bullet, typically used in handguns, to school in a jacket pocket, Vanatta said. The student is being disciplined by the district, and is facing disorderly conduct charges.

Vanatta said the bullet likely fell out of the student’s pocket by accident and landed near the lockers, where two other students then found it. He and district officials said the students acted perfectly in the situation, and reported the finding to a teacher immediately.

“The kids did a great job of reporting it,” said district communications director James Cromie. “They took it right to a teacher, who took it to the office. The bullet was only on the ground for about three minutes. It was amazing.”

Students were not in danger at any time, Vanatta said, but he said he’s happy the district enacted its emergency plan so smoothly to make sure students were safe.

“Anytime something like this happens, it needs to be taken seriously,” Vanatta said. “In this instance, fortunately, nothing came of it, but a lot of times where there’s smoke there’s fire, and it was in the students’ best interests for us to check this out and make sure they were safe.”

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