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RIPLEY, W.Va. -- Two juveniles, ages 16 and 15, were in law enforcement custody Wednesday after one of them was found in possession of a gun and ammunition on a Jackson County Schools bus Wednesday morning.
Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but he told other media outlets the juveniles are brothers and the older sibling stole the gun and gave it to the younger, who planned to use it to shoot someone.
Another student on the bus became aware of the presence of the weapon and took the magazine away, Mellinger told the other outlets.
Jackson County Schools Superintendent Blaine Hess said a bus driver was alerted to the presence of the gun and a student also texted a parent who works for the school district about the situation.
"And so the principal became aware very quickly of the event and contacted law enforcement officials," he said.
The bus was "getting ready to drop students off at Evans Elementary School," Hess said, when it was stopped, and sheriff's deputies responded to the scene.
"They were able to determine that there indeed was a firearm on the bus, and they took the firearm, magazine and some ammunition off the bus, as well as took a student into custody," Hess said.
Hess said the 15-year-old male removed from the bus was a Ripley Middle School student. He confirmed a 16-year-old was taken into custody but declined to provide other information due to the ongoing investigation.
The other students on the bus were unloaded at Evans Elementary and taken on another bus to their schools, Hess said. Parents were notified by phone of the incident and schools continued operating normally, he said.
"We spend a great deal of time training our kids with 'see something, say something.' If they see something concerning, they let an adult or a school official know," Hess said. "So while you never want to have an incident like this, we're glad that they responded in a way that they let people know, so that we could take care of it as quickly as possible."
The district received a federal grant for that training through the Sandy Hook Foundation several years ago, he said.
The district will conduct its own investigation after the sheriff's department's investigation is concluded, Hess said.
Jackson County Magistrate Court officials said the criminal complaints had been sent to the Circuit Clerk's office. An employee who answered the phone there said she could not release the reports because they involved juveniles.
Jay White, a resident of Evans, said she lives three houses down from where it happened. She said she lives on School House Road, the same road that Evans Elementary School is on.
"Evans was lit up blue, blue lights were everywhere," she said. "It was frightening."
The incident unfolded a day after a magazine of 9-millimeter ammunition was discovered in a girls locker room at Ripley Middle School, according to Hess and Ripley Police Chief Brad Anderson.
"A student turned in some ammunition that was found in the locker room at the school," Anderson said.
The prevention resource officer assigned to the school and other school officials searched people with access to the locker room and determined there was no threat to the school, Anderson said.
Despite the timing, Anderson said the discovery on Tuesday was "definitely" not related to Wednesday's incident.
"It's all totally different," he said. "It had nothing to do with what happened (Wednesday)."
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com
James Dobbs can be reached at jdobbs@newsandsentinel.com