Bodycam video shows deputies, K9 finding gun that prompted lockdown

We?re getting a closer look at how deputies tracked down a teen believed to be armed with a gun at Cedarcrest Middle School in Spanaway last week.

SPANAWAY, Wash. - We’re getting a closer look at how deputies tracked down a teen believed to be armed with a gun at Cedarcrest Middle School in Spanaway last week.

On April 25 around 1:13 p.m., Pierce County Sheriff's Deputies were called to the school for reports of a weapon being shown. The school resource deputies responded initially, and the school went into lockdown.

Deputies were given the name of a 14-year-old student who was reportedly seen with a gun tucked in his waistband at school and was making threats. They checked the classroom where the student was supposed to be., but he was not there.

The student was soon located on the second floor and detained. No firearm was found on the child, but the school remained in lockdown while deputies searched.

"I have heard of kids bringing guns to school not at my school yet," said Brayan Buchanan, a Liberty Middle School student.

K9 Brix was called in to help with the search. He was able to track a scent to the second floor bathroom, specifically, a garbage can.

Inside, deputies found a realistic-looking Glock pistol, which turned out to be an airsoft gun of the same manufacturer.

Buchanan's father, Jason, heard about the incident. He is one of the many concerned, particularly regarding the airsoft guns that look so real.

"How are law enforcement gonna know until they get a better look at it?" the father said.

"If I can't tell it's a firearm or not, I have to treat it like it's real," said Sgt. Darren Moss with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.

Moss said he is frustrated by the ongoing crisis plaguing schools these days. He says it has to be a community effort to stop gun violence, and he's reminding students this is not the way to resolve issues with one another.

"You think it's funny, you think it's cool or whatever you're gonna do with it," Moss said of the airsoft look-a-like. "You're gonna go rob somebody with it, and when that person pulls out a real pistol now it's ‘uh oh,' and really, you shouldn't be bringing these things to school at all."

The 14-year-old student was arrested for possession of a dangerous weapon on school property and felony harassment.