CARTHAGE, Mo. – A #FreeShep movement is afoot to support a high school senior who is under investigation by school officials for bringing his hunting shotgun to school in his locked truck.

The News and Tribune reports Carthage High School senior Sawyer Shepherd went turkey hunting before school Tuesday. Afterward, he unloaded and disassembled his shotgun, put it in its case and left it under the seat of his locked truck at school for the day.

Somehow school officials learned of the shotgun and questioned Shepherd, who acknowledged the weapon was in his truck. Shepherd was reportedly suspended from school and the baseball team as a result, which prompted students to rally to his defense.

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More than 100 students protested at Carthage High School before classes Thursday, while others showed their support at the baseball team’s after school away game in Webb City, The Joplin Globe reports.

“A lot of them (CHS seniors) are upset because they’re concerned they won’t be able to walk (in graduation) with someone they have gone to school with their whole lives,” senior Charith Parnell told the news site.

Superintendent Blaine Henningsen said the school is going through the process of evaluating the alleged violation of the school’s weapons policy and will meet with Shepherd’s family, but “no determination has been made at this time” regarding his ultimate punishment, according to the News and Tribune.

Parnell noted that the federal Gun-Free Schools Act allows for guns used for hunting, but school policy calls for no weapons ever, except for police.

Judd McPherson, a turkey-hunting attorney from Joplin working with the family, agreed with Parnell.

He pointed to the hunting exceptions in the federal Gun Free School Zones Act for weapons that are locked away, and said the shotgun did not meet the definition of a weapon in school rules because it was disassembled and could not be fired, according to the Globe.

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“The handbook said it has to be capable of causing injury, which is not the case here,” he said. “This is a state where, in some schools, missing class the opening day of deer season is considered an excused absence.”

At the Thursday baseball game students wore “Free Shep” t-shirts, and his team left an empty space with a helmet on the grass when they lined up before the national anthem before the contest.

Many of the students told the news site their classmate doesn’t deserve a suspension for an honest mistake.

“We feel like this whole deal has been over-exaggerated, and too harsh of a punishment over a simple mistake that we don’t want to jeopardize someone’s future,” CHS junior Tristan Kelley said.

“We all know Shep, and he’s a good kid of great character. Half of us look up to his as a role model because he’s a big influence in our high school.”

Carthage police chief Greg Dagnan told the Globe a parent topped him off to the gun, and they took action, but Shepherd did nothing illegal.

“There was a gun in a vehicle, but at that point we handed it off to the school because it was clear there was no intent to do violence and there would be no criminal charges,” he said.

The student’s mother, Shelly Shepherd posted to Facebook about the ordeal and said she’s not upset with school officials for taking action.

“Of course, I wish this had gone down differently, but we can’t back down now,” she wrote. “Principal Matt Huntley is a good friend who has been a part of many of our children’s lives. He is trying his best to follow the law like we would all expect him to.

“We appreciate everyone’s support, but we do not want this to get out of hand,” she wrote.

Missouri state Rep. Mike Kelley tweeted to Shepherd that he planned to visit Carthage High School today to try to talk some common sense into district officials.