Sheriff: School counsellor convinces student to hand over gun

PLEASANT VIEW, Tenn. – A middle-school counsellor in Tennessee is being called a hero after talking a teenager into handing over a loaded handgun.

Media outlets report that a 14-year-old boy went to Sycamore Middle School Wednesday asking to speak with counsellor Molly Hudgens.

Authorities say he told her he was having problems and was going to kill teachers and a police officer, but no students; he told her she was the only one who could talk him out of it.

And so she did.

Cheatham County Sheriff Mike Breedlove said Thursday that after they talked for 45 minutes in her office, the boy agreed to hand over the loaded semi-automatic handgun he had hidden under his clothing.

“She was an amazingly brave person to be in there that long with this young man,” Breedlove said. “She did something even the most experienced law enforcement officer might not do. She’s a hero in our community.”

The boy was taken into custody without injury, and has not been identified.

He is being held in Williamson County Jail on charges of possessing a weapon on school property and threatening school employees.

The sheriff did not say how the student got the gun or what problems prompted the threats.

The district’s policy of zero tolerance for weapons on campus requires his expulsion from school for not less than one year.