Crime & Safety

Seekonk Middle School Contacts Police Over Student's Facebook Picture of Guns

After a parent brought the post to the middle school's attention, they sent it to the police.

According to a police report written by Patrol Officer Stephen Kandarian, the assistant principal at  contacted the department on Monday, March 21, to report a male student's post to Facebook.com. A parent made the original report to middle school staff.

Mary Westcoat, the assistant principal, showed the officer a copy of the posting which had two semi-automatic guns pictured on the student's Facebook page, according to the report. Also on the page was a conversation between the student and a female student inviting her to "use one of my guns."

The officer verified that the student's father had an active gun license in Seekonk and contacted him. On Wednesday, March 23, the parent and son visited the police station. There, the officer showed the Facebook post to the father, who then said he didn't know the pictures were taken; the guns were out only because he and his wife were moving furniture for a short time.

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According to the report, he said he shoots with his son and taught him gun safety protocol; therefore, his son's actions surprised him. He also said he normally locks his guns up. The father said he would tell his son to take the picture off Facebook. 

The officer then met with both the father and son, who said he took the picture without his father's knowledge and that he understood it was wrong. Officer Kandarian then told the student his father's firearms license could have been revoked and that the police department takes all issues concerning weapons and violence in schools very seriously.

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