Franklin County Woman Indicted for Bringing Gun onto Middle School Campus

A woman accused of bringing a gun onto the campus of Franklin County Middle School has been indicted by a Franklin County Grand Jury.

According to the indictment, on Tuesday, January 24 during a middle school sports parent meeting, two female parents got into a physical altercation.

One of the parents involved was found to be in possession of a gun.

She was identified in the indictment as Melinda Umholtz, and was indicted on one count of Carrying Weapons within Certain School Areas – a felony.

The indictment states that Umholtz was allegedly carrying a KAHR CT380 automatic handgun within the school safety zone at the Middle School.

Acting School Superintendent Chuck Colquitt said the incident was one of two that happened that evening.

The other was at Franklin County High School where Colquitt said a confrontation happened between an adult and a juvenile after the game against Hart County High School.

Law enforcement was on the scene immediately and investigated the incident.

Colquitt said the results of the investigation found that the two individuals involved were posturing to fight.

There was also an allegation in that incident of a weapon being brandished he said but the investigation could not confirm that.

Colquitt said the Franklin County School System takes the two incidents seriously and will make every effort to ensure the safety of students, employees, fans, and the community.

Recently, the Franklin County School Board approved $200,000 SPLOST monies to pay for a weapons detection system to be installed at each school and hand-held weapons detectors for on and off-campus school activities.