PLATTE COUNTY, Mo. — The Platte County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a student brought a gun to school Tuesday morning.

Investigators said a student reported a 12-year-old had a gun inside of his backpack at Plaza Middle School.

Officials took the boy with the gun into custody. No one was injured, and authorities said there’s no current threat to any students or staff.

The sheriff’s office said the school was placed on hold at about 7:30 a.m. The school released the hold around 8:20 a.m.

This is the fifth incident this school year across the KC metro in which a student brought a weapon to school.

“I applaud the student who brought this incident to light,” Sheriff Mark Owen stated in a news release.

“We encourage students to report anything that poses a threat to school staff or the school resource officer. Protecting our schools not only takes a good relationship between the school district and law enforcement but also involves the students, parents, and the community.”

Plaza Middle School Principal Adrian Singletary sent a letter home to parents letting them know about the investigation:

Dear Plaza Tiger Families,

This morning our school went on hold for approximately 50 minutes. We are grateful for our students and staff working to follow our protocols and procedures for being on a hold in our building. We began the hold at approximately 7:30 a.m. and all protocols worked as planned. We released the hold as of 8:20 a.m. in conjunction with law enforcement officials.

All is secure and we are currently working with law enforcement on an investigation as a result of this building hold.

This morning we found a handgun in a student’s backpack upon the student’s arrival at school. The weapon was immediately recovered and our law enforcement partners joined us at that time. Working with law enforcement partners, and in securing the weapon, our staff and students were safe. Our students and staff remained safe in their classrooms while administration and law enforcement worked through the incident.

We recovered the weapon as a result of another student reporting to us. We thank our students for being aware and then taking responsibility to report this to us.

The student is no longer at school. We will be following district handbook guidance in continuing our investigation.

Because there is now an active investigation into this occurrence, we will share what we can when we can. At this point, we wanted you to be informed of this incident so that you are aware of what caused us to be on a building hold.

We want to reiterate that all staff and students are safe and secure in our school and we plan to continue our regular school day.

Thank you for being partners in taking care of students each day. We appreciate your support and local law enforcement support during this time. If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Principal Adrian Singletary