Updated Dec. 6:
According to an arrest report from the Carson City Sheriff's Office, deputies were dispatched to Carson High School's parking lot based on a reporting party who witnessed two males with firearms in a white truck with a bed cover.
Deputies ordered the students out of the truck and detained them and proceeded to clear the vehicle. A school administrator searched the truck and located two paintball rifles in the backseat. The description indicates one was a large, black rifle that looked like a tactical rifle while the other was a small, blue paintball gun. The items were booked into evidence.
The deputies interviewed one of the males, identified as 18 years old, who said he was going to Walgreen's since he did not have class during the school period and called the other student over to show him the paintball guns.
The male observed a female student walking by, without making eye contact, and hid the guns from sight and entered the truck. The female reported the male never pointed the firearms at her but described them as a large, black rifle and a shiny metal object resembling a handgun.
The male subject, 18, was booked into the Carson City Jail for possessing a dangerous weapon on school grounds. No other information was provided on the other male subject.
Originally posted Dec. 5:
Two Carson High School students were detained and the school was on “secure” Thursday after an incident involving paintballs, the Carson City Sheriff’s Office said.
The students were arrested for possession of a dangerous weapon on school grounds and booked into the Carson City Juvenile Detention Center and the Carson City Jail, according to a CCSO news release. The students were playing with and fired a paintball gun in the school parking lot when another student observed them. The student who reported heard the shots from the paintball gun and recognized the sound as a possible airsoft, pellet or paintball gun but did not know if the other weapon was a firearm.
The school returned to its normal activities after 20 minutes, according to Sgt. Taylor Mieras, who oversees the department’s school resource officers.
Mieras said it was an isolated incident.
The situation occurred after the Carson City School District announced the launch of its “Report, Don’t Repost” initiative to eliminate the spread of misinformation on social media or digital platforms.
District spokesman Dan Davis said it’s an important step to assist students and families recognize how to be digitally responsible.
“We live in a fast-paced digital world where oftentimes information spreads rapidly and is not verified,” Davis said. “And so part of that is we want people, if they see something concerning or alarming on social media, whether it be a post or something that they read online, we want them to report that, as opposed to sharing it or reposting it.”
Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said the initiative will help bring an awareness to everyone because it deals with real threats.
“I would suggest to you that, at least in this jurisdictional area, we are not on a significant rise, but we are seeing things that occur on our campuses or related to our campuses, increase because of that spread, not of false information but a recurring spread of current information,” he said.
Thursday’s situation was mitigated quickly enough to lessen panic, which is the intent of “Report, Don’t Repost,” district and law enforcement officials said.
CCSD’s Standard Response Protocol, adopted through safety training from the “I Love U Guys” Foundation the district has completed, offers multiple actions and types of communication in an event. These include a lockdown in which students are trained to move away from sight, maintain silence and not to open a door in an emergency scenario. During a “secure” incident, students are trained to return to the inside of the building and resume activities as usual. Adults and staff increase situational awareness and outside doors are locked.
For the initiative, Davis said if a repost of a harmful text, conversation or photo is shared, the key is to screenshot, timestamp and report it to a local law enforcement agency to help build a case for prosecution or for further recourse.
“This ‘Report Don't Repost’ motto, if you will, is something that can be utilized not only in school districts, but also other public buildings or public places in employment or private places in employment,” he said. “And oftentimes people look at stuff, they see something posted and they take that as, ‘Oh, this is factual,’ and in reality, a lot of it is unfounded.”