LEBANON, Ohio (WXIX) – Two 14-year-olds face weapons charges after a photo showing at least one of them holding what court records say was a real handgun in a Lebanon High School locker room surfaced on social media.
Both teens have denied the charges.
Lebanon City Schools Superintendent Isaac Seevers said someone told a school employee about the photo, which was then shared with Lebanon police on Saturday.
“The investigation to date indicates that the firearm was brought onto district grounds to show friends, and we have identified no evidence of a specific threat directed toward the students in the photo or the broader school community,” Seevers said. “We treat the presence of any weapon on district grounds with the utmost seriousness.”
Seevers said the students involved haven’t been in school since the photo came to light Saturday.
According to court records, one of the teens admitted the firearm in the photo was real. The photo showed the teens in the school’s football locker room; one of them was “holding a black in color hand gun,” court records state. That teen said he thought the gun was fake.
Both teens have been placed on house arrest with GPS monitoring and are barred from having access to weapons, according to court orders. They’re also restricted from being on Lebanon City Schools property unless given specific permission by school personnel, and are limited to using electronics and social media only for school purposes.
Superintendent Seevers and Lebanon Division of Police Chief Jeff Mitchell are asking parents to remind their children to report anything concerning they see or hear at school right away.
“This situation demonstrates why we continually encourage students, staff, and community members to report concerning behavior,” Mitchell said.
Both teens are set to appear in Warren County Juvenile Court on Sept. 24 at 8:30 a.m.
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