9mm handgun and clip taken from student at Stockton's Edward C. Merle Institute of Environmental Technology, Nov. 1, 2012
9mm handgun taken from student at Stockton's Edward C. Merle Institute of Environmental Technology, Nov. 1, 2012
STOCKTON, CA - Stockton Unified School District police arrested a teen who is accused of bringing a loaded gun to school Thursday morning.
According to Police Chief Jim West, two school staff members isolated the 14 year old on the campus of Edward C. Merle Institute of Environmental Technology and as they carried the boy out, a 9mm semi-automatic handgun fell out of his pants leg.
Officers reported there was one ammunition round in the gun chamber.
No one was hurt.
School administrators said they decided to approach and isolate the teen before police could arrive because all 250 students were scheduled to have lunch together in the next few minutes. Staff feared the student and the gun could be lost.
"The best thing to do would've been to wait for the police, but it was safety first," said Principal Yanik Ruley. "I wanted to make sure the staff and kids were safe."
The school on the 1600 block of E. 6th Street was on lockdown for 45 minutes until the boy was arrested and taken to juvenile detention.
District police brought in dog trainer Debi DeShon and her detection dog, Gordon, to search the campus. According to West, the dog had two suspicious hits from backpacks in the first classroom it searched. Administrators took the students and their backpacks to a separate room to search the bags. Nothing was discovered.
West said the teen with the gun was booked into county juvenile hall on several felony charges and was not talking to authorities.
Edward C. Merle Institute of Environmental Technology is a magnet school.
News10/KXTV