FOLLOWUP: Student charged with unlawful possession of firearm in Chief Sealth IHS gun incident

The 15-year-old arrested for allegedly bringing a gun and bullets to Chief Sealth International High School last Wednesday is now charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. We obtained the charging papers late today from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. They include the probable-cause document written by Seattle Police, which we transcribed as follows, minus suspect and witness names:

On 12/16/15 prior to the start of school, at Chief Sealth High School, an ammo clip for a firearm was found on the floor of (teacher’s) classroom. The ammo clip was turned over to Ms. Hammer, the school Principal. A meeting was held by Ms. Hammer that was attended by the Vice Principals and school security, where a plan of action was discussed.

(The school security officer was then directed to the teacher’s classroom) and asked to bring (suspect) to the office. As (the school security officer) arrived at the classroom, (teacher) informed (him) that he had spoken to (suspect) about the ammo clip and that (the suspect) admitted to having possessed it. Based upon his relationship with his students and (the suspect’s) statements, (teacher) had the belief that (suspect) was in possession of a firearm. (Teacher) conveyed this feeling to (school security officer) and left him with the definite impression that (suspect) was currently in possession of a firearm. (School security officer) escorted (suspect) to the office, where they met with Ms. Hammer.

(She) confronted (suspect) about having a weapon and when asked to search his backpack, (suspect) refused … remained defiant and when Ms. Hammer notified (suspect) that his parents were being called, (he) reached into his backpack and withdrew a Sig Sauer firearm. The firearm was immeditaely seized by (school security officer). The firearm had its hammer cocked as (suspect) removed it from his backpack. (Security officer) rendered the weapon safe; no magazine was in the weapon and no round was found in the chamber, although it was reported that (suspect) was under the impression that the weapon had a round in the chamber. (Suspect) stated that he has had the gun with him since the beginning of the school year.

Responding officers contacted all parties in the Office, where it was found that the Sig Sauer .22, Serial #xxxxxxx, was a stolen (verified) out of Pierce County on 4/15/15 … (Suspect) was placed into custody and read Miranda (and) was later transported and booked into (the Youth Services Center).

The charging papers do not include any mention of specific times or timeframe during the unfolding of the incident; the original note sent to parents last Wednesday afternoon said it started just before classes, and police told us they were called around 11:15 am. Seattle Public Schools spokesperson Stacy Howard told WSB last Thursday that this was the first time this year a gun had been found on an SPS campus. The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says the suspect is due in court tomorrow.

15 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: Student charged with unlawful possession of firearm in Chief Sealth IHS gun incident"

  • Admiral mom December 21, 2015 (7:20 pm)

    Thank you Tracy, this is very scary. I don’t even want to think whether or not the suspect had the intention to use the gun. Schools are supposed to be a safe zone for our children and to learn the suspect had been carrying a gun since the beginning of the school year is disturbing to say the least.

  • WTF December 21, 2015 (8:15 pm)

    What on earth is a 15 yo kid doing thinking about hand guns, let alone have one, let alone carry it to school?!?!?

    What is wrong with people who have children they can’t guide, mentor and raise to have respect for self and others? Palm – forehead – slap. No, let’s rethink that forehead – palm – slap!!!

  • kidsthesedays! December 21, 2015 (8:18 pm)

    Where did he get the stolen gun? Isn’t that another crime waiting to be solved? If he admitted carrying it into a school multiple times, isn’t there probable cause on that offense also?

    Why are we limited to unlawful possession of a firearm?

    I’m expecting this is not his first or last crime, unfortunately. He is a juvenile, but he’s in training for a dim future at this point. I hope he has been expelled also, for the safety of those who come to school to learn.

    • WSB December 21, 2015 (8:43 pm)

      Out of curiosity, I’m going to pursue the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office report for which a number is included in the police/court documents. This doesn’t necessarily mean this defendant had anything to do with the original crime – certainly you’ve heard of guns being stolen and then resold/recirculated – but how it got from point A to point B would be of interest. – TR

  • Evergreen December 21, 2015 (9:00 pm)

    How in the world can a school be a “safe zone” when there is no way to know whether a student is concealing a weapon? The term “safe zone” doesn’t mean anything. Kudos to the teachers.

  • Admiral Mom December 21, 2015 (9:33 pm)

    In theory safe zone means a place where our children do not have to worry about violence, a place where they can learn to be good citizens and hope to some day lead this world to make it a better place. In theory.

  • joel December 21, 2015 (9:53 pm)

    lucky this ended well. BUT what is the official district policy on how to handle this. is it up to the principal? seems in today’s world you call the police ASAP and let them handle it.

    it’s not the principal or teachers place to play detective when there are lives at risk…especially kid’s lives.

  • KBear December 21, 2015 (10:15 pm)

    Thank God for the Second Amendment. If only his teachers and classmates would have been properly armed. Like a well-regulated classroom militia or something. Yeah, that’s totally what our founding fathers had in mind.

  • Eric1 December 22, 2015 (12:45 am)

    LOL.@KBear. Those damned bill of rights.. Not saying teachers and students should be armed but…
    .
    It is amusing thing is that the teacher KNEW who the perp was. In my world, kids like this (known troublemakers) would be searched prior to being allowed to come to school. It would have stopped this and, no doubt, countless other weapons. But alas, that stupid 4th amendment.
    .
    They come as a package deal.

  • Seattlite December 22, 2015 (3:07 am)

    Metal Detectors.

  • FootSoldier December 22, 2015 (6:59 am)

    Thank you. This blog was and well still is an amazing resource with what is happening in the community schools of your area. Actually someone willing to pull police/court docs, stand in halls to wait during the union negotiations and report what is going on versus hand wringing, mommy blogging that at time is just an opportunity to rant versus report. There is a big difference.

    Of late there have been serious legal issues affecting the local schools. Whatever transpired in the Madison Middle School case with regards to the boys and the video sent to the students?

    The death of the young Sealth student. The constant harassment of varying students at many school sites.

    Now this. I find it interesting when Ballard faced a similar threat with no gun on site nor the student there was a three hour lockdown/shelter in place. This with a gun and the student believing his gun was loaded, despite leaving the magazine (which I suspect has a story of not being accidentally left) then the hours that transpired before Police were called and the kid taken to an office where he had a “loaded” gun. So how does that work with regards to safety? So had they had a lockdown he would be locked in a room with a loaded gun in his backpack? What?

    There are real problems here with regards to protocol and safety and well consistency frankly with SPS..

    But hey I who work for the district and go to schools every day have to come to a blog to read what is going on in the schools also says quite a bit.

    But thank you regardless… Merry Christmas, et al..

  • D December 22, 2015 (7:10 am)

    If he pulled it out himself and they seized it that was definitely not handled in a safe manner they’re very lucky everyone wasn’t killed if I had a kid there they would be pulled and put in private school they’d hear from an attorney on why they’re responsible to pay for that private school education

  • Robert December 22, 2015 (8:15 am)

    You wonder what brings this on? all you have to do is turn on the television.absolutely nothing but social-reengineering.courtsey of good old hollywood..nothing but taste-less killing, violence blood and guts shoot-em-ups. mindless drivel designed to numb the mind and kill any sane thought. most of the parents WILLINGLY let some one else raise and disipline their kids. they are to busy ,can’t be bothered.

    • WSB December 22, 2015 (8:47 am)

      Robert – While I’m certainly not defending violent entertainment, you should know that most kids don’t even watch TV. (Ours is one year out of high school so I have some relatively recent contact with the demographic.)
      .
      FootSoldier, “blog” is only our publishing format. WSB is a news publication and has been this area’s leader in original reporting for 8+ years now. Not to chest-thump, as there is a ton more I wish we could do, but the clock runs out every day … anyway, thanks for the reminder about the Ballard incident, which even had the police chief herself on campus there by day’s end. – TR

  • Matt S. December 22, 2015 (9:26 am)

    Fascinating and chilling. I guess this is why our BS meters went off with that first strange announcement. There’s *still* more to this story even as details come out.

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