Chester student to be charged over gun incident

By all appearances, the item in the student's backpack Tuesday morning was a handgun, and officials quickly locked down Chester High School.

And though Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan said it was only a BB gun, Chester police said Tuesday afternoon that the 15-year-old student would be charged with possession of a weapon on school property - a first-degree misdemeanor.

On Tuesday morning around 10:15, the 10th-grade student at the Delaware County high school was spotted pulling a gun from his waistband and dropping it into a black backpack while walking down a hallway. A student reported the incident to an administrator, and within minutes the school was locked down by a resource officer on duty.

Nearly an hour later, the backpack was recovered in a stairwell, and officials determined that the item was not a firearm. While Whelan called the item a BB gun, Chester Police Commissioner Joseph M. Bail Jr. said the gun was made of plastic but he could not confirm whether it was a BB gun or a toy.

With the gun, police officers found the student's identification. The student's name has not been released.

Chester police said at a news conference that the ending could have been far worse.

"The potential for disaster was there," said Bail. "If this kid had taken it out in front of the school resource officer, there could have been a terrible aftereffect."

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Bail implored state lawmakers to reconsider the way juvenile cases are handled.

Whelan said that although the 15-year-old can be charged, he could not be automatically detained because the charge was a misdemeanor.

Bail said that was not enough, and the student should have been automatically detained. He said the 10th grader had been a person of interest in a previous incident on the east side of Chester in which a gun "was pointed at a civilian." However, it was unclear whether the gun was an illegal firearm, and the student was never arrested or adjudicated.

"Not detaining sends a horrible message, that you can get away with it," Bail said. "Kids might think, 'He brought that to school this time and got in. What's stopping him from doing that again?' "

One of the most impoverished cities in the region, Chester faces significant crime. This year, there have been 63 arrests for possession of a gun in the city, according to Pennsylvania State Police, eight of which have involved a juvenile.

Police officials said it was still not clear how the student was able to bring the weapon onto school grounds. Students must be screened by metal detectors before entering the school.

If the weapon was plastic, Bail said, it would not have triggered the detectors. A school employee said the student may have also sneaked through a side entrance.

"This is something where you only have a second or two at most to determine what the magnitude of the threat is," said Chester Mayor John Linder. "It could have been a horrific ending, but the message we have to continue to send is to not bring any weapon to school."

cmccabe@philly.com

610-313-8113@mccabe_caitlin