A 13-year-old student is in custody after a police officer found a loaded gun inside the student's backpack.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office says a School Drug Task Force officer assigned to the child's school found the .380-caliber handgun in the sixth-grader's back sack about 12:40 p.m. Monday. Capitol Middle School officials were investigating a verbal fight between two students when they found the gun, which was reported stolen.

The Advocate reports the student faces charges of carrying a firearm by a student on school property and illegal possession of a stolen firearm.

The School Drug Task Force is a multi-agency unit made up of East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Department deputies and Baton Rouge police officers.