ROCHESTER, N.Y. – An 18-year-old was arrested for bringing a loaded gun into Monroe High School yesterday. News10NBC’s Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean went to Monroe on Friday to ask students why they think another student would bring a gun to school. He also found the person who caught it before it got into a classroom.

It was an alert security guard who found the gun in a backpack wrapped in socks and a t-shirt. When the security guard checked the student’s bag she “immediately saw the gun … in the bag.” A second look found the gun “wrapped in several socks, gloves and clothing.” The guard called her boss and the police.

Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “Why do you think a young person brings a gun into school?”

Monroe High student: “Probably for protection maybe. Or if not for protection they might have just been going through something.”

That’s the core question Brean asked Monroe students when they left for the day.

Berkeley Brean: “How about you? Why do you think a young person would bring a gun to school?”

Mariah Bryant, Monroe High student: “Bullying. People get picked on a lot at Monroe, so bullying is a big part of Monroe so that’s probably another reason why they would bring it into school. Probably to get back.”

Novelle Williams, mother: “I have no words. This is terrible.”

Novelle Williams has a son in 11th grade at Monroe. At first she shied away from the camera and questions. But she came back 10 minutes later.

Berkeley Brean: “What impact do you think this has on your son who is here?”

Novelle Williams: “He’s concerned about it because I overheard he and his sister talking and this morning he was saying he didn’t want to come to school today but he wouldn’t tell me why. So once you told me what happened I put two and two together.”

In the county’s latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey, only 1 percent of students said they “carried a gun on school property.” But 9 percent admitted they carried a gun in the past month, and 10 percent of Latino students and nine percent of Black students said they did not go to school for one or more days “because they felt unsafe.”

Isaiah Calhoun, 18, was in court Friday morning and was released without bail. He’s charged with bringing a loaded gun onto school grounds and criminal possession of a weapon.

District officials tell News10NBC the gun was never used to threaten anyone. They said, “Student safety is a top priority, and our code of conduct will be enforced to the fullest extent, as this is a very serious situation.”

The mother of Isaiah Calhoun called News10NBC Friday.

“I want people to understand he’s not a threat, he’s a good kid,” she said. “He didn’t know. He didn’t know (the gun) was in there. He wouldn’t harm anybody. He’s not a bad kid.”

Calhoun’s mother declined to share her name publicly.

“I know that’s not my son. My son is not like that. My son is afraid of guns,” she said. “For him to even think of doing anything like that is not my son.”

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