Font ResizeLAS CRUCES - Two Las Cruces High School students are facing charges after allegedly meeting up across the street from campus with two guns and more than 30 rounds of ammunition Thursday afternoon, according to authorities.
The father of one of the boys contacted police after school officials told him his son had left school Thursday. The father found the boy - and several other boys, who scattered - at Frenger Park, just across the street from the school.
"When he went to pick up the (boy's) backpack, there was weapons in the backpack," said Las Cruces Public Schools security director Todd Gregory, who said the boy was in possession of a .22 caliber handgun and a .38 caliber handgun.
The Las Cruces Police Department officer assigned to the high school then found that one of the boys who had run from Frenger Park had several dozen rounds of .22 ammunition, Gregory said.
"It looks like they were going to go to another target off campus," Gregory said. "There was something going on, but the weapons were never on campus ... It didn't look like anything was going to affect our campus. That was my main concern."
The boys' names and ages have not been made public yet, pending charges, and LCPD spokesman Dan Trujillo said the investigation was ongoing.
Under state statute, the boys could be charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a person younger than 19.
It is the second firearms incident involving LCHS students this school year.
Lucas Orsino-Verdugo, 17,
Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5400
