COLUMBIA - A Rock Bridge High School student was arrested on suspicion of unlawful use of a weapon Thursday after school officials reported he had shown a knife to students on a school bus on Wednesday. As of 4:30 p.m. Friday, the student, Justin Goacher, 17, was being held at Boone County Jail with a bail of $2,000.
Goacher had shown a knife to fellow students on a school bus on Wednesday, and students alerted the school's resource officer the next day, Rock Bridge Principal Kathy Ritter said. When Goacher was called to the school's office and asked about the knife, he took it out of his backpack. The resource officer then filed a police report, and Goacher was arrested.
"He didn't threaten anyone; he just said he was goofing around with it," Ritter said.
Ritter also said that Goacher had not shown the knife to anyone at the school before he went to the office.
On Friday morning, Columbia Public School administrators met to discuss safety measures in the district. The incident at Rock Bridge was not discussed in particular, Assistant Superintendent for Student Support Services Lynn Barnett said, but the administrators were considering adding more law enforcement at the noon hour at Hickman High School after a fight involving six students attracted police on Thursday. They also discussed adding another safety resource officer at Hickman.