Student arrested for bringing BB gun to North Las Vegas school

An 18-year-old student was arrested Monday for bringing a BB gun to a Clark County high school, according to school police.

Dean Lewis II was arrested on suspicion of possession of a dangerous weapon on campus at Mojave High School in North Las Vegas, school Capt. Ken Young said. BB guns are considered dangerous weapons on school grounds.

“It can cause damage; that’s the bottom line,” Young said.

The student was not threatening to use the gun, Young said. Police received a tip that Lewis might have something on him, Young said.

The discovery continues a worrisome streak for the school district. School police arrested three students last week, two of them for having guns on campus and one for making threats against the school. Police have tied the uptick to the Parkland, Florida, school shooting on Feb. 14, which killed 17 people, but students have been arrested on similar charges throughout the school year.

“Thankful Mojave has students willing to speak up to help keep our campus safe,” Principal Greg Cole wrote in a message on Twitter. Cole attached a letter to parents about the incident to his tweet.

Nevada law stipulates that students who bring weapons to campus must be expelled from school.

Two 17-year-old students, one male and one female, were arrested with handguns last week, one at Palo Verde High School and one at Desert Rose High School. Those were the 16th and 17th firearms confiscated since the school year started, school police said.

BB guns and pellet guns are counted separately and as of Monday evening, Young did not have how many of those weapons have been confiscated this year.

Threats and rumors have also been taking up a lot of police time, too.

A student at Sunrise Mountain High School was arrested Friday for making threats against the school.

On Wednesday, police investigated a threat at Brown Junior High School in Henderson that did not result in an arrest. A rumor of a student with a gun at Sierra Vista High School also was unfounded.

On Friday, school police urged students to continue to report anything they know.

“Go to an adult,” school police Lt. Roberto Morales said Friday. “Let an adult or the person or persons that are trained to deal with certain situations be the ones to step in and handle those.”

Contact Meghin Delaney at 702-383-0281 or mdelaney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MeghinDelaney on Twitter.

Letter to parents from Mojave High School by Las Vegas Review-Journal on Scribd