MPD squashes report of loaded gun at bus stop

Concerned parents at Sequoia Pathway Academy reached out to InMaricopa following reports of a loaded gun at a bus stop in town this morning.  

“This sounds like a potential disaster that nobody took seriously,” said one parent who asked not to be named. “I’m pulling my kid out of school right now.” 

Maricopa Police Department spokesperson Monica Williams said a student at Sequoia Pathway Academy reported finding a loaded firearm magazine in the Alterra neighborhood on the way to school. 

“We went out and we went looking for it,” Williams said. “But it was never a gun. It was what would be loaded into a gun.” 

Regardless, Williams said police never found any gun parts. 

“We have not been able to substantiate his claim or what he saw,” she said. 

Parents are still upset and pulling their children out of school following an assembly around 8 a.m., saying “what happened this morning was a travesty.” 

This event follows at least two recent lockdowns after reports of guns at the school, none of which have been substantiated. 

“As of right now, it doesn’t look like an actual incident of any kind because we can’t find what was mentioned,” Williams said. “The student kind of just said, ‘Hey I saw it on my way to school’, so we went looking and didn’t find anything.” 

Parents said the school’s principal departed this month in response to the safety scares. Edkey CEO Mark Plitzuweit confirmed the principal resigned but was not able to say why. 

“It appears that there is some confusion,” he said of this morning’s unrest. “The report I received is that students found a magazine for a gun of some kind, not an actual gun. The [police officer] was sent to the reported location and could not locate either the magazine or a weapon.”