| By Big Radio News Staff |

A local grade-school student faces terrorism and weapons charges after they brought a BB gun to Clinton Elementary School and told classmates they’d shoot people at the school.

Clinton Police Chief Mike Schultz says an unnamed juvenile is charged with making terrorist threats and bringing a weapon to school. School staff says on Friday, the student brought in what at first appeared to be a semiautomatic handgun.

Schultz says Clinton Elementary School staff found the gun in the student’s backpack inside their locker.

He says It was after a classmate told school staff they’d overheard the student say they had a gun and planned to “shoot up the school and people in it.”

Schultz says police investigating determined the gun was an air-powered BB pistol, but it looked authentic enough that even trained officers might have thought it was real if someone was holding it.

In May, police in Mount Horeb fatally shot a student after spotting them outside the school with what appeared to be a rifle. Police later learned it was a pellet gun.

Schultz says whenever students hear of a weapon at school or see another student with a weapon, they should report it to school staff or administration immediately.