Student, 18, arrested for bringing gun to high school
By Elaine Forman
An 18-year-old Custer County District High School student was arrested Monday after allegedly taking a loaded .22 handgun to school to protect himself, according to Justice Court records. He is being charged with criminal endangerment, a felony.
According to Justice Court records, Clint Leroy Parsons was called into the principal's office at 2:07 p.m. after Principal Jamie Ogolin received a tip that the student had a concealed firearm on school property.
Ogolin asked him if he had a firearm, and Parsons said no, but he did consent to a pat-down. Records state that Ogolin felt what he believed to be a small handgun in an inner coat pocket, so he confiscated the coat.
Miles City Dispatch received a non-emergency call from the school. When Officer Tony Isbell arrived, he recovered a small pistol that was loaded with 10 .22 long rifle rounds.
According to a press release from Police Chief Doug Colombik, Parsons had said he was carrying the handgun for protection as a result of all the recent school shootings that have occurred. Court records state that Parsons allegedly admitted he brought the weapon to school to protect himself from a school problem. Colombik said Parsons had not made any threats of violence by verbal communication or on a social site toward anyone at the school. Officer Isbell took the gun for safe keeping and escorted Parsons off school grounds. Later police met with the student and his father, and took the student into custody.
In a later interview, Principal Ogolin said the school did not have to take any further security measures that day, and the school population was not aware of the incident.
The Custer County Sheriff's Office would neither confirm nor deny whether the student had a concealed weapon permit (italics mine).
Parsons appeared before Justice Court Judge Don Neese Tuesday for an initial hearing and posted the $4,500 bail. A preliminary hearing will be held in 16th Judicial District Court on Feb. 21 at 1 p.m.
Miles City Unified School District Superintendent Keith Campbell said Parsons was suspended, and the district will hold a hearing to decide whether to expel the student during its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night.
Guns are not allowed on school property, according to state and federal gun-free school laws and the school district's policies. District policy says the board will expel any student who uses, possesses, controls or transfers a firearm or any object that can reasonably be considered or look like a firearm at any setting that is under the control and supervision of the district. The trustees may authorize the school administration to modify the requirement for expulsion of a student on a case-by-case basis.
Criminal endangerment holds a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
We talk to him regularly as parents and try to guide him in the right direction when he has been confronted by the boys.
