Students expelled for pellet gun

Four Omaha Burke High School students were expelled last week after they shot off a pellet gun in the school parking lot.

The boys apparently were shooting at the ground, said Luanne Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Omaha Public Schools.

Nelson said a parent saw the boys with the pellet gun about 3 p.m. Nov. 18 and contacted school officials. According to a police report, a school administrator asked one of the boys about the incident and the boy admitted that he and another boy had fired the gun into the ground. A third boy had held the gun, the boy said.

Police reported that they confiscated an airsoft AirSplat gun, a bag of AirSplat BBs and a can of compressed air.
Two boys were cited by police on suspicion of possession of a nonexplosive device and a third was cited on suspicion of disorderly conduct.

Nelson said that all four of the boys handled the pellet gun in some way, so all were expelled, as required by the OPS student code of conduct.

Burke staff members have recommended that the boys — two sophomores and two juniors — enter the district's expelled-student program, where they can complete credits they have begun earning this semester. They would have to continue in the program next semester as well.

The AirSplat.com Web site describes airsoft as “an informal term in reference to BB guns that use plastic BBs larger than the common BBs sold in local sporting goods stores, which are 6mm in circumference. The difference/advantage is that with airsoft, players can safely train/simulate/play with weapons that appear identical to their real counterparts, but without the fear of serious injury.”

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