Posted on 07/18/2004 8:33:57 AM PDT by TERMINATTOR
WOOD RIVER JUNCTION - In an apparent attempt to make a home movie based on the popular "Matrix" film series, three teenagers were arrested on Tuesday afternoon with pellet rifles and a paintball gun outside of Chariho Middle School.
The teens - two 15-year-olds from Richmond and a 16-year-old from Charlestown - were seen walking on the regional school district campus on Switch Road at 2:55 p.m. by a school clerk who called 911, said State Police Major Steven O'Donnell. The boys were dressed in black trench coats with black gloves and dark glasses, the major said.
Upon receiving the emergency call, O'Donnell said the State Police gave the order to lockdown the school and dispatched five troopers to the scene from the Hope Valley barracks. Officers from the Richmond and Hopkinton Police Departments also responded.
Once the police arrived they spotted the three teens, whose names were not released, and, at gunpoint, ordered them to the ground. The boys were not carrying weapons at the time, O'Donnell said.
The police found two pellet rifles, a paintball gun, two water pistols wrapped in black duct tape to resemble .22's and a camcorder, O'Donnell said. None of the weapons were loaded.
Evidence on the video camera supported the boys' story that they were making a film based on the "Matrix," O'Donnell said.
The three teens, all Chariho High School students, were inside the high school as well as the middle school, according to Chariho Superintendent John Pini. A custodian saw them in an empty classroom and told them to leave, he said. Soon after the police arrived.
"The police responded incredibly quickly," said Pini.
There were no other students in the building at the time, Pini said, only staff and administrators.
The three teenagers were charged with possession of a firearm by a minor and possession of a firearm on school grounds. They will appear in Family Court on delinquent petitions, which are the court's equivalent to felonies for juveniles, said O'Donnell. None of the three had prior records.
The State Police searched the homes of the three boys, said O'Donnell, but turned up no evidence of "Columbine worship."
In April 1999, two Columbine High School seniors killed 12 fellow students and one teacher in the Littleton, Colo. school. The boys called themselves the "Trench Coat Mafia" and the incident led to heightened sensitivity nationwide to school violence.
Remember: It's all fun and games when someone loses an eye.
Er, I mean: UNTIL someone loses an eye.
Yep, good thing the cops got called... these kids are future militia members, no question. They should be put in padded rooms and be observed by government-paid shrinks. I would wager their parents should also be punished.
It takes a village! Our Future Fuhrer says so!
WTF...?
Possession of a firearm?
"None of the weapons were loaded."
WHAT weapons ????
gestapo pig tactics!
I did not realize the air pistols, paintball guns and squirt guns were considered "firearms". Guess that means our arsenal has just been upgraded.
The boys were not carrying weapons when the cops got there, but the cops found pellet, pain, and water guns. So, where were these "guns" found? Since they were carrying no weapons, there should have been no probable cause for a search of any private property. Yet the cops searched the boys' homes. Is that where they found the "guns"? This news story is short on important facts.
...Oh, the idiots. It's not a good idea to break the law. Come on, folks! Get licensed! Get permission!!!
possession of a firearm by a minor and possession of a firearm on school grounds
FIRE (?) arms
there were NO "firearms" there. pellet guns and paintball guns are "Air powered" (big boy) toys. But I guess the water-pistols could be classified as "Anti-Fire" arms?
Is there a law against anti-firearms ?
It's a shame that these stupid reporters and news agencies are too cowardly to leave a contact name/address for the reporter, govt officials involved, etc.
Welcome to the new Amerika, comrade.
Under our Orwellian system of edicts, they very well may be considered firearms.
Just as a firearm in considered "loaded" in some places if you have the magazine in the gun, but the chamber is empty. Or if you the magazine is simply somewhere on your person, but separate from the gun, it's considered "loaded" in some places. And I recently read how some bill (in Kalifornia, I think), they are trying to make it so the gun is "loaded" if you have magazines and a gun in your car at the same time, even if they are physically separated.
This is another example of how the cops occupying army overreacts to things.
In a simpler and more Free time, they would have called the parents, and left it at that.
there were NO "firearms" there. pellet guns and paintball guns are "Air powered" (big boy) toys. But I guess the water-pistols could be classified as "Anti-Fire" arms?
This is a trick government uses to violate your constitutional rights by subterfuge. They pass a law defining the meaning of words. Undoubtly the LAW says that squirt guns are firearms although Webster's doesn't.
For example, in Kalifornia the law says that, in a car, a firearm is loaded if there is any ammunition (including expended cases) of any caliber in the vehicle. In short an empty hogleg plus a 22 LR case and bingo a loaded gun felony!
If only they had been playing Diversity House with multicultural babies instead, they'd be guaranteed straight-A's.
Already done, see #14.
What's next? Water balloons being thought of as bombs and a terrorist threat?
Too damned bad what has happened to our country. Shades of "1984" and "Brave New World."
Only if the multicultural babies included a few gays.
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