INDIANAPOLIS — Protection.
That’s why an Indianapolis teen told 13 Investigates he brought a gun to his middle school.
“I felt like I was looking over my back too much,” the now-16-year-old told 13 Investigates.
13News agreed not to name the teen for his safety. He reports bringing the weapon to class repeatedly before he was caught and arrested a few years ago.
He was one of at least 125 students arrested on a gun charge at an Indiana school during the last eight academic years. 13 Investigates reviewed eight years’ worth of discipline arrest reports compiled by the Indiana Department of Education. Our analysis showed there was a shift in weapons arrests last school year. That’s when more kids were arrested for bringing a gun to school than any other weapon. Previous years show more kids were arrested for knives than guns.
13 Investigates sat down with six Indianapolis students to talk about the increase in guns at schools and the effort to keep schools weapon-free. Half of those students say they feel safe at school. The other three told 13 Investigates they do not feel safe. Those three students also said they believe there are more weapons in their schools than there used to be.
Signs of more weapons at school
During the last two school years, 13News reported at least a dozen incidents of guns at school or on a school bus. Last May, two 16-year-olds in Indianapolis were arrested after posing with guns in a high school bathroom. In August, a New Whiteland school reported an elementary student had a gun on the bus.
Another elementary school student on that bus described what happened to 13News.
"He said, 'Hey! Look at this," 9-year-old Carter said. “And so I did, and then, he pulled out a gun, so I ran and told the bus driver.”
It’s unclear just how many weapons and guns are found in Indiana schools each year. The state does not require districts to track or to report those numbers.
Indiana does, however, track the number of students arrested and why. A list of common offenses is compiled into an annual discipline arrest report.
13 Investigates reviewed eight reports, starting with the 2015-2016 school year. During that time, at least 176 students were arrested on a gun offense either on school property or off. At least 125 of those arrests were due to incidents that happened at school.
A spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Education wrote in an email, “Incidents that occur off campus where the school contacts police and the police subsequently make an arrest are generally counted as an off-campus arrest. It is possible, however, that schools have local reporting policies that change how this data is reported to IDOE.”
The number of gun-related arrests rose significantly for the 2022-2023 school year. The report for that year showed there were at least 55 gun-related student arrests on and off school property. That is more than double the 25 cases from the year before and triple the 18 cases from four years earlier.
Those numbers reflect the number of arrests tied to gun offenses including possession of a firearm on school property, dangerous possession of a handgun and possession of a handgun without a permit.
However, this is likely an undercount, because more serious arrests like murder or attempted murder could involve a weapon.
Protecting the schools
In recent years, more local school districts started putting in place more advanced technology to help detect weapons. Perry Township installed a $1.4 million high-tech weapons detection system during the current school year.
Superintendent Patrick Spray said the system was installed as a precaution and not because of any one incident.
“Schools just aren't a place for weapons,” Spray said. He does note that the district’s police officers and security officials may be armed.
Weapons including guns have been found at Perry high schools. Last school year, 13News reported a gun was found in a student’s backpack. During the 2022-2023 school year, the district reports finding 10 guns on campus, but it says the majority were brought on campus by adults. This year, the district said it found eight guns on adults visiting its high schools.
"One of those eight events … a grandmother had it in her purse,” Spray said. “And her response was, 'I didn't even know it was in there.’ It was right before Thanksgiving, and I'm thankful that we were able to point it out … before it was sat on a couch at Thanksgiving meal, and somebody got into it that shouldn't have.”
The district reports it has found zero guns since the system was installed. School leaders and students believe the system is working as a deterrent.
“Now, I do think I feel I feel safer,” said Colleen, a senior at Perry Meridian High School.
Colleen was one of three seniors the district arranged to speak with 13 Investigates about the fight to keep weapons off campus.
“It's unfortunate and sad that it's come to this point and that we need to have weapons detection systems, but we do,” said John, another senior.
The Perry students say they feel safer even as gun violence continues to be an issue in the city — one that seems to impact kids their age more and more.
13 Investigates spoke with another group of teenagers who attend school in different districts. They told 13News they do not feel safe at school.
A youth group helped connect us with 18-year-old Patrick, 14-year-old Lynnen, as well as a 16-year-old who we agreed not to name for his safety.
“Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, it doesn't matter,” Patrick said. “You have to acknowledge the fact that guns and firearms are being brought into schools now.”
From the teens’ perspective, it does not always appear as though schools are doing enough to keep guns out of school.
The teens have strong opinions about what schools can do to keep kids safe, such as installing and using weapons detection systems.
Patrick told 13 Investigates, from his perspective, it didn’t appear as if his high school utilized its weapons detection system to its full potential.
“You walk into Warren, and you look to the right, the metal detector is off to the side, up against the wall,” Patrick said. “It's not even getting used no more."
13 Investigates reached out to Warren Township to ask about the detectors. A school official did not directly respond to Patrick’s concerns about metal detectors set aside and unused, but the school official did tell 13 Investigates over the phone that the district’s metal detectors were always in use at two of the high school’s student entrances.
However, in March, the high school started rolling out a new Evolv weapons detection system. A district spokesperson said the new system is now located at every student entrance. The spokesperson did not state how many student entrances are at the high school.
Even when those systems are used, the students say they’re just a first line of defense.
The 16-year-old student, who was arrested for having a gun, said his middle school had metal detectors and despite them, he brought the weapon to school for several weeks before he was caught.
“Didn’t think nothing of it,” he said.
That example is one reason why the teens say adults should be thorough when conducting searches. Lynnen, 14, said, in her middle school, there are random searches, but they’re not always a surprise.
“They tell us when we're about to get searched,” she said. “Or the day before, when we're about to get searched or there's a bus evacuation. So, it's like we know when to bring stuff and when not to."
She, too, attends a Warren Township school. A district spokesperson could not address her specific experience but stated that alerting students to an upcoming search or check is not the district’s protocol.
Three of the teens say, from their perspective, it does not always seem like adults are doing all they can to protect kids and educate them about weapons and gun safety.
The 13 Investigates review of the IDOE discipline and arrest reports shows students across the state are arrested for having weapons on campus. Incidents happen at large districts in all of the state’s largest cities and in smaller districts in more rural counties.