Leechburg Area Students Arrested With Air Gun, No Threat To School

Leechburg Area School District administrators called local police after students were reported playing with a pellet gun outside of school grounds, but near David Leech Elementary School.

“We had some older kids clowning around with an air gun,” said district Superintendent David Keibler. “They were outside. They weren’t on school grounds, but near the elementary school exit where kids are dismissed.”

Keibler said the students with the pellet gun were older students from the Leechburg area.

In an email to parents, Keibler said the students were reported by their parents and would not be in school Friday as punishment. The gun never made it into any of the district’s buildings.

“There was no threat to students during the situation that occurred yesterday,” Keibler said.

Keibler said the school contacted the Leechburg Police Department and the issue was resolved quickly. The school did not need to be closed.

Parents said on social media that they had not received any information about the incident until Thursday evening.

“If I had thought there was a real threat to the school, I would have been notified much earlier,” Keibler said. “If I ever felt there was a threat to students, they would not have traveled to school. They would have had to do a day of remote learning.”

Keibler said he often has to be careful about what information he releases because it could lead to disciplinary action against students, information he is not allowed to release to the public without notifying the school board. In more serious cases, the district is not able to release the information immediately for fear of interfering with an investigation.

“We simply cannot release information at will,” Keibler said.