Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Boy accused of aiming gun at others ordered to stay home
Charges loom for 9-year-old cops say also made threats
It was a violent morning for a 9-year-old boy when he brought his father’s loaded handgun to class and threatened three classmates at their Lauderhill school, authorities said.
The child’s lawyer says he was bullied during the past school year and this one, too. Bullying was a factor in the conflict, police said Wednesday, but they are still investigating who the aggressor or bullies may have been.
The boy, a 4-foot-tall thirdgrader who has not gotten into trouble before, approached a classmate Tuesday at Lauderhill Paul Turner Elementary, where more than 600 children are enrolled.
Saying he had something to show him, he took the Ruger LCP gun from his right pocket, slipped it from its holster and unloaded the full magazine to show the bullets. A round remained in the chamber of the gun, which did not have an external safety, police said. He also threatened to shoot the other student if he told anyone about the weapon, an arrest report said.
He next approached a boy who said he was going to tell, but the 9-year-old put the gun to the student’s forehead and said, “Don’t tell the teacher or else,” police said.
Then while in a class, the boy asked a third student if he wanted to see the gun. When the student threatened to notify a teacher, the boy aimed the weapon at the other child’s thigh and said he would shoot him in his leg if he told, according to police.
But a teacher did find out, and alerted the school’s vice principal and school resource officer, who confiscated the gun and arrested the boy.
He faces charges of possession of a firearm on school property and three counts of aggravated assault, police said.
No one was injured, but there are unanswered questions: How did the child bring a gun into the school? And if he was being bullied last year and this semester, as his lawyer says, why was that allowed to happen?
Because of his age, the South Florida Sun Sentinel is not identifying the child or his par-
ents, who declined to talk about the case.
During a juvenile court hearing Wednesday, Broward County Judge Elijah Williams ordered that the child be detained at home for three weeks and wear an electronic monitor. Williams permitted the boy to leave the house with his mother, who has a chronic illness, was recently hospitalized and will have to attend medical appointments.
While appearing before the judge, the child wore a light green shirt, striped tie and black slacks. He was accompanied by his mother and his father, who kept a protective arm around him.
Williams also ordered the child to not return to his school at 1500 NW 49th Ave., not have access to the internet, social media, guns or weapons and to not contact the three boys he is accused of pointing the gun toward.
The judge asked the father if he would make sure the order about guns is abided by, and if he would bring the child back to court next week for the judge to check on him.
“For my son, I’ll be there every day,” the father said.
Williams replied, “A strong family structure is exactly what I need right now” and, “I appreciate you being the kind of man you are.”
The father has not been charged with any offense.
Williams told the parents they face a possible marathon of hearings, psychological exams and other steps to get their child through the situation.
Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes said the agency is representing the child. Weekes said the boy was being bullied by a classmate during the last school year and also involved two other students who have since left the school.
“That’s why it’s so important to address bullying, because it impacts the children who are bullying and those who are bullied, because they feel helpless,” Weekes said.
Broward School District spokeswoman Tracy Clark said in an email that “disciplinary measures will be in accordance with the Code Book for Student Conduct.”
Because of student privacy rules, she said she was unable to provide any information about Weeke’s comments, or confirm that the child’s mother had met with school administrators in recent days, as the lawyer said.
Weekes also said this arrest was the first time the boy has been in trouble.
As for the child’s parents, Weekes said, “They’re devastated by this, it’s not characteristic of their child.”
Police were able to quickly take the gun from the thirdgrader and to determine that it was an isolated incident, so the school was not evacuated or locked down, Marquez-Perkins said.
Before this incident, Lauderhill Police had already created an anti-bullying program for schools in the city and are planning to launch it this month, Marquez-Perkins said.
Students in grades three through five will get backpacks filled with activity books, bracelets and other tools and lessons in conflict resolution. There will also be information to guide parents of children who may be targeted by bullies. At Lauderhill Paul Turner Elementary, on the day the kids participate in the program they will first march around the perimeter of campus to raise awareness and then continue into the auditorium for their lessons, Marquez-Perkins said.
The school does not have metal detectors. Lauderhill Mayor Richard Kaplan said Tuesday that installing them “would be fine, but before the kids come to campus, they are walking to school and see each other in the street. The violence could happen outside the school before they ever got there and hadn’t even gone through a metal detector.”