West Middle School student brings loaded handgun into building

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A student at Columbia's West Middle School brought a loaded handgun into the building Monday morning.

West Principal Courtney Lewis wrote in a letter to families that a student brought a loaded handgun into the school. Another student reported that the gun and school officials "took immediate action to investigate," the letter says.

"Students were kept in their classrooms while administrators and district safety and security personnel located the student and the item," Lewis wrote. "The student did not brandish the item in a threatening manner and did not verbally threaten anyone. The investigation is now in the hands of law enforcement and the school district is cooperating."

Lewis commended the student who reported the weapon for doing the right thing.

"In this instance, students did exactly what we need them to do to keep our school safe," Lewis wrote. "They saw something and reported it to trusted adults. The school acted quickly to address the situation and appropriate legal and school consequences will be applied."

West Middle parent Christy Hawkins said that many parents are afraid and want to know what the school has for a solution to the problem.

"I think the school needs to have a parent meeting and invite all parents to sit down and hear us out," Hawkins said. "We want to know where they're at with this, what is the next step? Because we all are thinking, 'what if?' And it's terrifying."

Daniela Calhoun, a sixth grader at West Middle School, said she was in the classroom with the student who allegedly brought the gun.

Calhoun said the day began normally, with students coming and going from classes. Calhoun said everything changed around 10:40 a.m. during lunch period, when she began to hear rumors circulating around the school that a student had brought a gun into the building.

Calhoun said she remembers being in fourth period, prior to lunch time, and seeing a boy in her class reaching into his backpack suspiciously.

"He was like looking around and his hand was in his bag like he was about to pull it out and just start shooting everybody," Calhoun said.

Calhoun said the student was seen showing the gun to other students around the hallways of the school, but never said anything to anyone while showing the gun. She described the student as someone who wasn't quiet, but was frequently bullied.

Calhoun said she remembers school administrators coming into her fourth-period classroom shortly after she saw the student rummage through his backpack, where they forced the student to leave.

She said although the school hadn't told students the school was on lockdown, teachers were told to not let their students leave the classroom. That, along with the student's alleged behavior in her classroom made her realize the severity of the situation.

"I was like scared because what if he was going to shoot me first?" Calhoun said. "Because every time I looked across the classroom all I saw was him staring at me... I look back over there, he's still staring at  everybody and I'm like OK, I don't feel comfortable." 

She said the situation has left her traumatized and not wanting to return back to the school.

Calhoun's father, Demetrios Calhoun said he remembers getting a phone call from his wife asking him if he had heard about the situation after Daniela frantically called her about it. Demetrios Calhoun said this sent numerous thoughts running through his head, including showing up to the school to get answers.

He said parents were not informed the school had been placed on lockdown. While he understands not receiving communication while the situation is active, he would like to see better communication after the fact.

"You know, go ahead and reach out to the parents via text, let us know what's going on so that we can make the appropriate arrangements for our students if they need counseling and stuff like that," he said.

He also said he would like to see security improvements across the school district. Ideally, he said that would include having one or two police officers at schools, along with weapons detection systems being installed into every school.

While these types of situations can occur at any school in the country, he said he finds taking safety precautions crucial.

"I think that this is going to be one of those days where it really catches us off guard because we're too lax," Demetrios Calhoun said. "The way things are now these days we need to be on guard at all times."

Columbia Public Schools has only had one semester with weapons detectors in their buildings, starting with the high schools. Because weapons detection systems are still being reviewed they have not yet been implemented in lower grade level schools like West Middle.

Interim Superintendent Chris Belcher said that he was horrified that someone would bring a weapon into school. However, he was proud that students felt comfortable going to their teachers for help and teachers did everything they were supposed to do to keep students safe.

"The No. 1 thing we can do is have an environment where students tell adults when they hear things or see things that could be dangerous to others," Belcher said. "There's nothing we think about over here more than the safety and security of our students or our staff."

CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark added that the school does not plan to add additional security at the moment.

Specifics about the student who brought the gun can't be shared because of federal privacy laws, Lewis wrote.

The Columbia Police Department referred all questions to CPS.

According to data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, there were 24 reported student discipline incidents including a weapon in 2024 in CPS. That's an increase from 2023 when there were 20.