ELKHART — Local parents are on edge again after another loaded gun was found inside a local school. The semi-automatic handgun was found inside a student's book bag Thursday afternoon in a locker at West Side Middle School in Elkhart.

Police arrested the student, but are not releasing his name because he's a minor. He's being held at the Juvenile Detention Center in Elkhart, where investigators are working to figure out where the gun came from and how it got into the building.

Preliminary investigation shows another student told a teacher they had seen the gun on the bus on the way to the school Thursday morning.

Administrators were able to locate the gun quickly, and no one was hurt.

"The gun was in a locker, in a book bag inside the locker. They brought the student in and questioned him, and the student was cooperative," said Elkhart Police Department Sergeant Jim Buchmann.

But some parents say, even one incident like this is one too many.

"I was devastated," said Kizzy Harper, whose son Thomas attends West Side Middle School. "I thought, in Elkhart? [Not here!] It's like there's no safe school around here anymore."

"I don't want to see my son get shot!" agreed Thomas' father Marcus Love.

That wasn't all that had parents rattled on Thursday.

"I was a little bit shocked," said Yolanda Eli, whose 14-year-old daughter is an 8th grader at West Side Middle School. "It scared me because you just don't know what he's thinking, or what he's going to do."

Police say the gun was brought to school on a bus.

"He rode a bus and I believe he showed it to some students at one point," said Sgt. Buchmann. "There was a magazine in the gun, semi-automatic handgun. There were rounds in the magazine."

The question from parents is why?

School administrators refused WSBT's request for an on-camera interview Thursday night, but released the following statement:

"He told school administrators he brought the gun to school to give to another student for protection after a recent neighborhood incident. The gun was brought to school relating to an incident in the community, not in the school,” Elkhart Superintendent Mark Mow wrote in the media release.

"They acted swiftly, and they will have a follow through investigation," added Sgt. Buchmann.

But some parents want more to be done to ensure this never happens at their children's' school again.

"They need to have metal detectors," said Love.

"They need to put metal detectors at the doors," agreed Harper.

"Metal detectors, yes," said Eli. "Maybe pat kids down when they come in?"

When asked if that amount of protection would go too far, and create a "locked down" type of environment, Eli said the choice is simple.

"No. Not when it comes to the safety of my child," she said.

"Our biggest concern is the kids," agreed Love. "Any means necessary to keep the kids safe. That's what we need, that's what we want."

"We need to ask how can we prevent this from happening again?" said Harper.

Police are not releasing information about where the student may have gotten the gun, but school administrators say he could face expulsion.

He could also face felony weapons charges for allegedly possessing a firearm inside a school, and could be charged as an adult. Sgt. Buchmann says that's probably unlikely, though because the student is in middle school, not high school.

The following is a transcript of the letter sent home to parents on Thursday:

October 9, 2008

Kristie Stutsman, Principal