CHESTERLAND, Ohio — A West Geauga High School student whose actions helped identify another student who had brought a gun to school with plans of shooting multiple students last week is set to be honored by the Uvalde Foundation For Kids.
The national nonprofit organization dedicated to ending school violence, which was founded following last year's mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, announced that the student will receive its National Hero Award. The unnamed student reportedly informed the school's resource officer that he had found a bullet in the boys' restroom, which allowed the officer and school officials to look through surveillance video and interview students, before ultimately identifying an 18-year-old student, Brandon Morrissette, who is alleged to have been in possession of a Smith and Wesson 9 mm handgun with three fully loaded magazines inside, as well as a lock blade-style knife.
Morisette is alleged to have had plans to shoot multiple students at the school. He was subsequently arrested and charged with the following:
- Attempted aggravated murder
- Inducing panic
- Illegal possession of deadly weapon in school safety zone
"He admitted to using prior calculation and design in developing a plan to cause harm to students at West Geauga High School on April 3," Chester Township Police Chief Craig Young said. "He further acknowledged that the firearm seized by law enforcement on Monday was the weapon he intended to use to inflict that harm."
In a release, Uvalde Foundation For Kids founder Daniel Chapin said: "This student who helped extinguish a possible threat to fellow students, represents the reality of how the climate of violence plaguing our nation's schools & threatening student lives can come to an end - Not through gun control or more safety planning meetings; but rather through alert, caring students such as this who refuse to stand by when a potential threat exists."
The foundation also applauded West Geauga High School for its, "calm systematic, compassionate & organized approach to addressing the potential threat; of which schools across the nation would do well to echo."