SAN ANTONIO – A 12-year-old boy was found with a gun Monday at a public charter school, San Antonio police said.
According to school officials, students reported to staff at around 10:30 a.m. that there was a student with a weapon at Jubilee San Antonio, located in the 4400 block of Chandler Road, near Southeast Military Drive.
A preliminary police report said the boy showed the gun to a couple of friends, who then notified teachers.
The boy was taken to a room, where administrators found the gun in his backpack, police said. The student was then detained by police.
A hold status, which requires students to remain in place, was immediately initiated once the incident was reported. The hold was lifted at 1 p.m., officials said.
“Because the threat was contained so quickly, we didn’t have to call a lockdown. We called it a hold. And that is one of the protective measures that campuses take, per Texas School Safety Center,” said Diana, Centeno, Jubilee San Antonio Senior Director of Student Services.
Centeno said the students who reported the incident did “a great job of reporting it so the school could act immediately.”
While the whole school was not let out early, parents who requested to pick their kids up early were allowed. They lined up at the doors around 1 p.m., when the students were let out of their classrooms.
One of those parents was Marina Quinones, who has five children at Jubilee.
Quinones came to the school to get her kids after the hold status was lifted, saying she’d been informed about the situation via email.
“I got the email at 11:37,” she said, showing the email on her phone that came over an hour after the hold status was set at the school. But that did not bother Quinones.
“I’d rather them handle the situation and get the kids under control and everything under control and then email me,” she said. “I think they did their job.”
The school also posted about the incident on social media around noon, after the email went out.
Other parents told KSAT they were upset because they did not receive an email, and think the time frame was too long, regardless.
“The goal is to minimize that wait time, but unfortunately, in this situation, we did take a little longer and we apologize to our parents. But they’ve all been wonderful, very patient,” Centeno said.
Dana Fuentes, an 11th-grade Jubilee student, also wanted more information sooner.
“I mean, I get it. You don’t want to freak out the kids, but at the same time, it’s important for them to know because their life is on the line,” Fuentes said. “There’s lots of parents out on the front, and they’re all terrified and scared.”
However, her frustrations lie in a much deeper issue.
“Teach your kids better or teach them gun safety. Do something because like, it’s become normal now, and this stuff isn’t supposed to be normal,” Fuentes said.
Jubilee San Antonio offers Pre-K through 12th grade.
Jubilee Academies also has schools in Austin, Brownsville, Kingsville and Harlingen.