LAPLACE — A 15-year-old LaPlace student was arrested last week, charged with threatening a fellow student with a gun at East St. John High School.

It was the second such arrest at the school in a matter of days that in part led to sweeping security changes across the parish’s public school district.

The St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office said the alleged victim told detectives the juvenile suspect tried to steal his belt and threatened to harm him with a gun Oct. 19. The victim told detectives the student followed him into the boys’ bathroom, entered the stall on the side of him and displayed a handgun.

Authorities said the victim later reported the threat to his mother and a school official.

Detectives obtained a judicial court ordered arrest warrant for the juvenile and executed a search warrant at the juvenile’s residence in LaPlace, announcing a gun was not found.

The juvenile suspect was arrested Oct. 25 without incident at his home and was released from custody Oct. 28 on a $5,000 bond.

The Oct. 25 arrest followed one from on campus four days earlier when a 17-year-old student was charged with carrying a firearm, dangerous weapon at school.

In that case authorities announced the student told detectives he took the unloaded gun from home. His motive was not announced. After the school resource officer received a tip that a student had a gun, the officer and school administrators recovered the firearm in the student’s book bag.

The School District announced Oct. 25 it is working with the Sheriff’s Office to increase security on all campuses, particularly at East St. John High and LaPlace Elementary School, the district’s two largest schools.

Those measures include a weapon-sniffing dog that will be on campus each morning, additional deputies on campus to help monitor students and more frequent searches of buses and students.