[01/25/02]A seventh-grader was taken to the Vicksburg Police Department and suspended from Vicksburg Junior High School Thursday after being accused of taking a gun to school.

“After receiving a report that a young man had a gun, we immediately went to the student’s class and, with another teacher, escorted him out of class,” Principal Ray Hume said.

Vicksburg Warren School District Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools Agnes Lyles said the student will face a hearing Tuesday before a district disciplinary review committee.

“The gun was found not in his possession, but nearby where he was sitting,” Hume said. “It was not loaded, and no clip or ammunition was found in the gun or on him.

“We called 911, the police came with Mike Ouzts, (school safety administrator) we called the young man’s guardian and he was escorted with his guardian to the police department.

The student was in a physical education class in the school’s gym when the gun was found, Hume said.

It was not known if the student had been detained at the Juvenile Detention Facility or released to his guardian.

Vicksburg Police spokesman Jamee Carter was not available, and attempts to reach Deputy Chief Richard O’Bannon and Chief Tommy Moffett were unsuccessful.

Hume said he found out about the gun from an anonymous tip. The gun was found between 8 and 8:30, during the school’s first period, Hume said.

Hume said he knew of no other time a gun had been found at the school in his nine years there.

“I feel like everybody handled this in an appropriate and timely manner,” Hume said.

The committee the student will face is a rotating, ad-hoc group of three or five school administrators, Lyles said. This being a weapons case, the committee is likely to have five members, she said.