Fatal shooting, gun seizures lead to Clark County schools safety group
The Clark County School District will create a school safety advisory committee to address issues raised by the fatal shooting of a student and an alarming number of gun seizures on campuses just one month into the school year.
Superintendent Jesus Jara announced the move on Wednesday, following the deadly shooting of a student — identified through a GoFundMe page as Dalvin Brown — at Canyon Springs High School in North Las Vegas on Tuesday. Six other incidents have happened in which guns were seized on or near school property so far this school year.
The most recent seizure occurred just hours before Jara’s news conference, when a 16-year-old male student at at Desert Rose High School in North Las Vegas was found with a 9mm caliber handgun.
“As a father, I know how scary it can be sending your kids to school with these headlines,” Jara said. “But I can promise that we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that our schools are safe and our students have a peace of mind that they deserve every single day.”
The advisory group — which will consist of parents, students, teachers and community members — will deliver recommendations to the superintendent by Dec. 1, which will then go to the School Board.
School police also announced that they will be assigning an officer to the Las Vegas Metro Police Department’s gang unit major case team.
But police couldn’t say for certain whether any of the cases involved gangs.
“I want to assure everybody that we will do whatever it takes as a school police department to work collaboratively with our local law enforcement partners,” said Chief James Ketsaa.
Ketsaa said all the guns confiscated so far this year were either involved in another crime or were not tracked by their owners properly.
Officials urge the public to report anything suspicious that they see through SafeVoice, an anonymous tip reporting system that launched statewide this school year. The public can call the hotline at 833-216-SAFE, visit safevoicenv.org or download the free app.
The district has received 730 tips through the system since Aug. 1.
Contact Amelia Pak-HArvey at apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4630. Follow @AmeliaPakHarvey on Twitter.
