15-Year-Old Who Brought Loaded Gun To School Faces Criminal Charges

A student who brought a loaded gun to his Clinton Hill school last week will face criminal charges, the NYPD confirmed today.

A 15-year-old boy, who was arrested when school safety agents found a .22 caliber pistol in his backpack after it went through scanners at the Brooklyn School for Career Development on Clermont Avenue last Thursday morning, has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

No one was injured during the incident, which took place on the first full day of classes.

The boy was arrested and taken to the 88th precinct for questioning. He was arraigned last Friday in Brooklyn Criminal Court, DNAInfo reports. Because he is a minor, the case will most likely be adjudicated in family court, an NYPD spokesman told us.

The full charges against the boy include felony criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm and criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds, DNAInfo says.

The student “had no idea the weapon was in a backpack [which] he told officers he borrowed from his brother,” his lawyer, Frederic Pratt, an Adolescent Intervention Attorney at the Legal Aid Society, told DNAinfo.

We have not yet been able to reach Pratt, but he stated to DNAInfo that the boy has never been arrested before, and is “a good student who didn’t have money to afford a new backpack and grabbed another one that was in his home and had the gun hidden in a secret pocket.”

The NYC Department of Education would not tell us if the Brooklyn School for Career Development has taken any disciplinary steps — or other actions — against the teen, or whether he will remain a student there.

The school has not yet responded to our request for comment.

“Due to FERPA, we can’t share details about students,” A DOE official told us. But added — “there are clear protocols in place to address any incidents swiftly and we will continue to work in close partnership with NYPD to ensure the safety of all school communities.”

“Families will be notified and we are providing additional supports to the school community,” the DOE official continued.

“This incident is deeply troubling,” DOE spokeswoman Toya Holness said last week. “Safety always comes first and there is zero tolerance for weapons of any kind in schools.”