Leslie Co. student steals gun from SRO while students assault another SRO

LESLIE COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - Two incidents in Leslie County last week left one school resource officer injured and another with his gun stolen by a Leslie County High School student.

On March 28, school resource officer (SRO) Randall Combs was called to Leslie County High School after a student had an altercation with a staff member.

“We were asked to transport the juvenile down to the sheriff’s office to be picked up by his parents,” said Leslie County Sheriff Billy Collett.

As the student was being transported, two other Leslie County High School students left campus but were located at the Boone Trail intersection of Wendover road by another SRO.

“The officer transporting the juvenile was sitting there in that traffic when the other officer yelled for backup because he was being assaulted by the juveniles,” said Collett.

While Combs was assisting that SRO, the student in his SUV found Combs’ personal gun hidden in the vehicle and put it in his bag.

“We actually brought him here to the office and stayed in the office with us here an hour and 45 minutes waiting on his mother to come pick him up,” Collett said.

The student kept the gun with him while in the sheriff’s office and had it until he was dropped off to the Buckhorn Children’s Center where he handed the gun over to staff members.

It was unclear as to what the student’s intentions were when taking the gun.

“Officer Randall Combs has received a day without pay and we’re kind of further investigating the incident,” said Collett. “At this point in time, he didn’t violate policy because there was not a policy about securing off-duty weapons inside the vehicle.”

Collett said because of this incident, the department is consulting with security experts to ensure something like this does not happen again.

Leslie County Schools Superintendent Brett Wilson released a statement to WYMT on the incident.

On Tuesday, March 28, school and district administrators were made aware that a LCHS student had allegedly stolen a weapon from a Leslie County Sheriff Office SRO’s vehicle, while the student was being transported to the Sheriff’s office. The incident did not occur on any of our school properties. At no time were any of our students threatened or endangered. The safety of our students and staff is our top priority.

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