North Las Vegas student, 15, arrested after gun found in backpack

A 15-year-old Cheyenne High School student was arrested Friday morning after school police found a gun in his backpack.

The high school, at 3200 W. Alexander Road in North Las Vegas, was placed on a hard lockdown about 7:40 a.m. after report of a firearm on campus, Clark County School District Police Department Sgt. Bryan Zink said. Officers then found a gun in a 15-year-old boy’s backpack.

School police arrested the boy after “a brief foot pursuit,” Zink said.

The lockdown was lifted about 8:10 a.m.

“The hard lockdown is where it’s reported that there’s somebody inside the building with a firearm,” he said.

The boy was taken to the Juvenile Detention Center, and he faces charges of carrying a concealed weapon, possessing a dangerous weapon on school property, being a minor in possession of a firearm, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, Zink said.

It was not immediately clear Friday how police became aware of the gun.

Metropolitan Police Department officers took the firearm for ballistic testing, he said. Further information was not immediately available.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.