(Recasts with finding of weapon)
HOUSTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A Houston-area high school was evacuated on Monday and a student taken into custody after police found a suspicious device initially thought to be a bomb but later determined to be a homemade weapon.
There were no injuries at Seven Lakes High School in Katy, a western suburb of Houston. The school has about 3,800 students who were evacuated to a football field and later allowed to go home.
"We have been informed that a student suspect is in custody," the school district said on its website without providing further information.
Officials found what they described as a "zip gun" during a search of the building by school police with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Harris County Sheriff's Office bomb squad.
The device had been "altered to propel an object designed to cause harm," the school district said on its website without providing further information. No bomb was found. (Reporting by Andrea Lorenz and Erwin Seba in Houston; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Meredith Mazzilli and Lisa Shumaker)
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