Posted on 11/23/2006 9:21:01 AM PST by pabianice
(This article is instructive as to the depth and breadth of anti-gun hysteria resident in Deep Blue Massachusetts.)
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Auburn incident was accidental
AUBURN, MA — A 12-year-old Auburn Middle School student has admitted to police he accidentally dropped two .22-caliber bullets from his pocket Tuesday morning prompting a search and two-hour precautionary lockdown of the Swanson Road school.
Police Chief Andrew J. Sluckis Jr. said the student, who went to the police station with his father and talked to Detective James Lyman Tuesday night, will be summoned to Worcester Juvenile Court to face two charges of possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card.
“The student and his father contacted the Auburn Police Department Detective Bureau, and the student admitted and took responsibility for bringing the .22-caliber bullets into the school,” Chief Sluckis said yesterday morning.
Chief Sluckis said the student got the bullets from his father, who has an FID card. Chief Sluckis did not know the circumstances by which the bullets were brought to school.
Chief Sluckis said the youth, who is not being identified because of his age, told police he didn’t realize he had the bullets with him and they accidentally fell out of his pocket. One bullet was found in a first-floor boy’s restroom and the second round was found in a hallway leading up to the second floor.
Both rounds were found by students and turned over to their teachers, who contacted Principal Ann O’Leary Ortiz, who called police, Superintendent Helene Skrzyniarz said yesterday.
The discovery of the bullets that can be used in either a handgun or rifle led to a search of approximately 600 students and their lockers, as well as the two-hour lockdown in which students remained in their homerooms.
“One positive thing that came out of this was that no contraband was found in any of the lockers,” said Chief Sluckis, who defined contraband as weapons or drugs.
Ms. Skrzyniarz said she was “absolutely” pleased that no contraband was found in the student lockers.
Chief Sluckis, who met yesterday morning with Ms. Skrzyniarz and Mrs. Ortiz, said a person convicted of possessing ammunition without an FID card could face a year in prison and a $500 fine.
“Since he has no criminal record, I would not expect the court to be too heavy-handed,” Chief Sluckis said.
Mrs. Ortiz described the student as being “a nice kid and not anything close to being a problem in school,” Chief Sluckis said.
Nevertheless, he said the student could be facing some discipline from the School Department and Ms. Skrzyniarz said that likely would happen.
“I’m sure there will be consequences at the school level as well,” she said.
The student was not at school yesterday, Chief Sluckis said.
“His father made the decision to keep him out of school,” the chief said.
After the search was completed, students went to lunch and finished the rest of their school day as well as after-school activities, Ms. Skrzyniarz said. Mrs. Ortiz and Assistant Principal John Giodano talked with students at their tables during lunch to explain what had occurred, she added. Mrs. Ortiz also sent letters to the students’ parents and guardians detailing the situation, the superintendent said.
Ms. Skrzyniarz, who returned telephone calls yesterday to four parents who left messages for her on Tuesday, said she went to the school yesterday to see how the students were doing.
“I wanted to see how they were weathering the incident,” she said.
Students were dismissed early yesterday for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
Ms. Skrzyniarz said she finished a meeting she was in and arrived at the school about 10 minutes after hearing what had happened. She said by the time she arrived about 10 to 12 “state and mostly local” police officers had arrived.
“It was busy at the school,” she said. “It was extremely quiet, extremely controlled,” she said.
Both Chief Sluckis and Ms. Skrzyniarz said the search and lockdown that was heavily covered by Boston television and radio stations, was justified.
“If we didn’t take any action we would have been negligent,” Chief Sluckis said.
A De-milled .50 cal cartridge.
A Live 20mm cartridge.
A De-milled Handgranade.
And various small arms cartridges from time to time.
And in 1965 a friend of mine got an "A" for the muzzleloading black powder handgun he made in shop class.
OH, My GOD!! The horror of it.
Probably went to public school.
"“Since he has no criminal record, I would not expect the court to be too heavy-handed,” Chief Sluckis said."
The People's Republic of Massachusetts, ever so merciful.
Almost the same hysterical uproar as the discovery of a 22 caliber bullet in the entry way of a store in the UK.
Who are in control of Mass. politics?
Democrats.
Is this their plan for the rest of America?
Absolutely yes!
Lexington and Concord were a looooong time ago...
Note to terrorists: to paralyze the state of Massachusetts, scatter a few .22 caliber rounds in various locations like schools, hospitals, libraries, stadiums and government buildings. Wait for the furor to die down from one incident then repeat.
Ms. Skrzyniarz would have been horrified to have seen what we brought to school in the '50s and '60s.
“If we didn’t take any action we would have been negligent,” Chief Sluckis said.
This statement is 100% true. Had someone been shot, after bullets were found, everyone would be screaming that the officials didn't search the school.
Given the school shootings lately, I would expect officials to search the school in this situation. I don't think this qualifies as hysteria. They put the school in lockdown, and searched it. To me it seems a reasonable approach.
Well, to the best of my knowledge, it's always been illegal to bring weapons to school, and if I remember my old high school Student Handbook, bullets were among the items specifically listed as weapons (Amazingly, firearms were listed pretty low on the list).
See post 29.
The one that can call in an air strike :)
OK. I'll do it.
Skin-nears. That should do it.
So with such draconian anti gun measures in place Mass. must have no gun related crime at all(except by those hicks coming up from Dixie).
In the '50s we could bring hunting rifles to school during the deer season so we wouldn't have to go all the back way home to get them after school. Nobody batted an eye as they were kept safely in the coat closets at the back of the classrooms until after school, and the teachers knew they were there.
Of course, this was New York, not Massachusetts, so maybe things were different there? But, somehow, I doubt it.
It's been quite a down hill spiral in the Blue States, hasn't it? And it's not much better in the Red ones. This has gone from a free country to a totally paranoid one where kids have to wear bicycle helmets to ride tricycles and are raised scared to death of their own shadows.
WTF?!!
Post 6 before the anal freeper comment. You guys are slipping.
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