13-Year-Old Boy Faces Charges For Bringing Gun To School

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Jan 11, 2013 11:20PM

A 13-year-old boy was arrested after he brought an unloaded gun and bullets to the K-8 John Marsh Elementary School on the South Side on Wednesday, and parents are wondering why they weren't notified sooner.

Officials confronted the boy after he was spotted playing with bullets, and police found he had a 3-inch folding knife in his pocket. He told police he had a gun, and they found an unloaded .22 handgun and 33 hollow point bullets in a bookbag in his locker.

The boy faces charges of unlawful use of a weapon in juvenile court court next month. He has been released into his mother's custody. He also faces possible expulsion.

CPS said this is "an isolated incident" and the school "does not tolerate the presence of any weapon of any kind on school property for the safety and security of our schools, students, staff and visitors."

Parents said security was tight on Thursday morning, but many of them didn't know why. Marsh Elementary has metal detectors, but they are not typically used on the students, just visitors. On Thursday, parents noticed the school using the metal detectors, and that's when many found out for the first time.

"We didn't know," one parent told ABC7. "We found out by other people. They didn't let us know, and it happened yesterday. They should have told us something."

Reports indicate the boy got the gun from a family member, and Fox reports he took it from his grandfather. One parent told Fox that the boy "was being bullied and he got tired of it."