MISSOULA — A student at Hellgate High School in Missoula was disciplined after being spotted across the street with a non-operational replica of a sniper rifle he made in welding class.
School resource officer Jim Johnson tells the Missoulian it was a metal gun and didn’t have a firing mechanism, but it looked real from a distance.
Principal Lisa Hendrix says the gun was confiscated and the boy received an undisclosed punishment.
Johnson responded to a call on the school radio Thursday afternoon from a teacher who spotted the boy across the street from the school with what appeared to be a large rifle. Johnson says once he got close enough, he could tell it wasn’t real.
It’s against school policy to possess even a toy weapon on school grounds.