Cyndi Loza

A teenager’s planned after-school fun caused the lockdown of four schools Thursday morning in northwest Reno, Washoe County School District officials said.

After a youth with a gun was reported in the northwest area, officials and school police locked down McQueen High School, Billinghurst Middle School, and Sarah Winnemucca and Westergard elementary schools.

District spokesman Steve Mulvenon said the 14-year-old Billinghurst student took a pellet gun to a friend’s home for target practice. When the student returned to school, he was told by a teacher that police were looking for a youth with a gun, Mulvenon said.

“He said, ‘I think you’re looking for me,’” Mulvenon said. “Fortunately, he came forward and helped resolve this thing pretty quickly.”

School police said no laws were broken, Mulvenon said.

“The main problem with these guns is they’re becoming more realistic,” Lt. Dale Richardson said. “Some of them you can’t tell the difference.”

Carey Stewart, division director for Washoe County Juvenile Services, agreed.

“They look like pistols,” Stewart said. “They look like firearms. So, it’s very easy to say ‘This kid has a gun.’”

Pellet guns, BB guns and Airsoft guns are growing in popularity, Richardson said.

This year, there have been 62 gun-related calls to school police, he said.

Last week, a third-grader at Grace Warner Elementary School was shot accidently with an Airsoft pistol after a classmate brought the gun to school, Mulvenon said. No one was injured.

“Parents need to watch their kids a little more, in my opinion,” said Kim Stephenson, manager of Steve’s Army Surplus, adding pellet guns, BB guns and Airsoft guns are not toys.

“They should treat them just like real guns,” he said. “Put it up higher (on a shelf or wall). Make sure they’re not using it without supervision.”

Stephenson said Airsoft guns, outselling paintball guns 10-to-1, cost about $180 to more than $550 and have a muzzle velocity of 280 feet per second to 475 feet per second.

Some parents buy Airsoft guns for children as young as 9 years old, Stephenson said.

“If we see the kids swinging the gun around or can’t keep a hold of the gun we try to talk the parents out of buying it,” Stephenson said. “We don’t care about losing a sale if it means a little kid is not going to hurt somebody or a kid.”