Groveport Messenger - November 27th, 2022

PAGE 2 - GROVEPORT MESSENGER - November 27, 2022
America’
ica’s s Fa Fa
av av vorite Treasure ure e Hunts!
2022
Nov. 26 &
27
Dec. 17 &
18
The Gilmore Group
Office: 614-834-HOME (4663)
Cell: 614-774-4416
www.GilmoreGroupHomes.com
Antiques, Collectibles,
Jewelry, Vintage,
Home Decor, Militaria
and more!
2023
Jan. 28 & 29
Feb. 25 & 26
Mar. 25 & 26
Another gun found at high school
BRAWL
Continued from page 1
bottle of pepper spray was emptied on to the crowd.
“The decision is use pepper spray was made after
verbal and physical efforts to stop the fight and disperse
the crowd failed,” said Adams. “The use of pepper spray
prevented major injuries from occurring and stopped
the incident from getting further out of control.”
He said after the pepper spray was deployed the
crowd of students rushed out of the hallway.
Adams said there were no reported injuries from the
fights and those hit with pepper spray were treated.
When asked why the fights occurred, Adams said police
www.columbusmessenger.com
By Rick Palsgrove
Groveport Editor
For the second time in less than a month, a gun was
found on a student at Groveport Madison High School.
According to Groveport Police Lt. Josh Short, on Nov.
9 officers arrested an 18-year-old male student who was
in possession of a loaded SCCY 9mm hand gun.
Earlier, on Oct. 24, a 16-year-old male student was
found in possession of a loaded Glock 19 - 9mm handgun
at the school. That student was charged with illegal
weapon or dangerous ordnance in a school safety
zone, a fifth degree felony, and he was transported to
Franklin County Juvenile Detention, according to the
Groveport Police.
Regarding the Nov. 9 arrest, Short said school officials
had received a tip that the 18-year-old suspect
was in possession of a gun at school and the school
resource officer went with school security and administrative
staff to remove the suspect from class.
“At that time the suspect refused to listen to staff or
the officer and quickly walked from the building and
out to the front driveway,” said Short. “School
Resource Officer Boso called for assistance from patrol
officers and continued to follow suspect out toward
Hamilton Road. As the suspect reached the south
driveway, patrol officers arrived and approached suspect
who immediately dropped his backpack and complied
with officers’ orders. The gun was found in suspect’s
backpack.”
When asked why did the suspect brought the gun to
school, Short replied, “During his interview he told
officers he brought the gun to school for protection.”
Short said the 18-year-old suspect was charged and
jailed for illegal conveyance of a deadly weapon or dangerous
ordnance in a school safety zone, a fifth degree felony.
Short said, for the most part, issues like this incident
start at home.
“If parents/guardians are engaged with their children
they can better monitor their activity and help
them find safer and more appropriate ways to handle
neighborhood problems,” said Short. “When young people
have no parental over site or mature adult guidance
they often become societal problems.”
Short said when such issues are communicated to
Groveport Madison school staff they do their best to
navigate through the situation and maintain a safe
school environment.
“Over the past decade I have personally seen a
switch for school administrators working on educational
issues to dealing almost exclusively with discipline
and safety problems,” said Short. “We want to encourage
our community to continue letting school staff or
law enforcement know when there is credible information
about guns at our schools or and other school safety
concerns. Our last two gun arrests at the high school
have come from information received from concerned
district residents. We could not do this without the
community support.”
Short added the Groveport Police will meet with
officials from Madison Township Police and Fire and
the Groveport Madison school district to discuss the
recent gun issues at the school as well as other school
safety topics.
“Local law enforcement has a great relationship
with Groveport Madison Schools and we are in regular
communication about improving school safety,” said
Short. “The district regularly asks for our input on how
to improve and aggressively encourages officer presence
on campuses as a regular daily activity. Public
safety is a shared responsibility. This isn’t a just a
school district or law enforcement job - it takes a family,
a neighborhood, a community.”
“are not getting a lot of cooperation” from those involved.
No arrests were made yet, but Adams added, “We’ll
look at the security video to see who the instigators
were and pursue criminal charges. We are not going to
tolerate it.”
Recently two students were found in possession of
hand guns at the high school, but Adams said there
were no weapons involved or reported in the Nov. 15
altercations.
“My big fear is if one day weapons were to get
involved with fights. Weapons would make a situation
10 times worse,” said Adams. “We are
aggressive whenever there are reports of
weapons at the school and we take immediate
action.”
Adams said representatives from the
Groveport Police, Madison Township Police,
and Madison Township Fire Department
will meet with Groveport Madison Schools
officials on Nov. 17 to discuss safety issues.
In a letter sent to parents, students, and
staff, Groveport Madison High School
Principal Duane Bland wrote, “While fights
of any kind are unacceptable and remain a
serious concern, it’s important to keep in
mind that the vast majority of our students
behave themselves as expected and consistently
follow the instructions of school personnel.
When students refuse to follow the
rules and cause disruptions for everyone
else, we will take firm action(s) to address
their behaviors.”