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No criminal charges for student with BB gun seen during Zoom class

The BB gun was confiscated, and Rondell was kicked out of his virtual class and sent to an alternative school

BATON ROUGE, La. — Back in September 11-year-old Rondell Coleman was learning online when he moved a BB gun in his bedroom.

Before long, a sheriff's deputy was knocking at their door.

According to school records reviewed by a New Orleans TV station, the fourth-grader and his mother faced criminal charges for bringing a gun to school.

The BB gun was confiscated, and Rondell was kicked out of his virtual class and sent to an alternative school.

"I don’t know if they're confused that we're not on campus. We're in our home. We are in our private home," said Rondell’s grandmother, Evette Coleman.

Rondell's grandmother had seen on TV, similar cases in Jefferson Parish. Cases the attorney general's office were already trying to overturn.

"We just saw this to be very significant government overreach and I think everyone in the country is sympathetic to that and that first story really triggered that firestorm," said Coleman.

That firestorm spread to the state capitol, with Rondell’s case in East Baton Rouge and a bill to require school systems to write virtual school policies.

Under pressure from attorneys and the legislature, the East Baton Rouge reversed its decision and is clearing the weapons violations from Rondell’s school record, according to Solicitor General Liz Murril.

"I was very disturbed when I found that the child was cooling his heels in an alternative school and I was worried for the child,” said Murril. “But they did react very quickly when they found out that something had fallen through the cracks, but I give them credit for reacting and for acting and for acknowledging that they had not updated their policies and done the right thing."

Murril said the attorney general's office is continuing to fight to clear the name of the remaining virtual students marked with weapons violations. She said all of those cases involve Jefferson Parish Public Schools.

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