Five students detained at BHS, one with loaded gun in book bag

Van Buren Township police responded to a call concerning a vehicle that had just been stolen from Briarwood Subdivision, off nearby Elwell Road, in the early afternoon of Thursday, April 21.
Belleville Police Chief Dave Robinson said police had a physical description of the suspects and School Resource Officer/Belleville Sgt. Kris Faull checked the school parking lot due to the proximity of the subdivision to the school.
She found five juveniles matching the description of the suspects and they were detained, Chief Robinson said.
Officers from Van Buren Township and Belleville police departments arrived to investigate.
Sgt. Faull then checked the student parking lot and located the stolen vehicle.
One of the detained suspects was found to have a loaded firearm in his book bag and was taken into custody by Belleville police, Chief Robinson said.
Chief Robinson said all of the subjects investigated are juveniles and are students at Belleville High School. The arrested juvenile was transported and lodged at the Wayne County Youth Home.
The arrested juvenile’s attendance in school previous to this incident remains under investigation, Chief Robinson said.
Van Buren Township Police Lt. Kenneth Floro reported that his department had been investigating reports of a suspicious situation in Briarwood Subdivision that involved four suspicious subjects who were seen inside a vehicle parked in a garage.
Lt. Floro said while Van Buren Township officers were investigating this matter, a second call came into the dispatch center reporting that a vehicle had recently been stolen from Briarwood Subdivision. Lt. Floro said it should be noted that upon the arrival of Van Buren officers at the Briarwood Subdivision (within minutes of the call), the suspicious subjects were no longer in the area.
Through a preliminary investigation and reviewing security cameras in the area, Van Buren officers obtained descriptions of four subjects in the exact area of these crimes as they were being committed. Van Buren officers provided the physical descriptions of the possible suspects to the other officers on duty.
Lt. Floro said Belleville’s Sgt. Faull was aware of the incidents in close proximity to Belleville High School that were under investigation, as well as the physical descriptions of the four possible suspects.
He said Sgt. Faull observed five suspects in the parking lot of BHS, matching the description of the suspects Van Buren was looking for and detained the subjects.
Van Buren officers arrived on scene and additional investigation was conducted, Lt. Floro said.
He said the incidents that occurred in Van Buren Township remain under investigation at this time. He said, contrary to some reports, there was no chase or pursuit of any kind during this incident.
On March 7 a 15-year-old BHS student was arrested after a student in an adjoining stall in a school restroom reported he saw a possible firearm fall on the floor. The suspect student was apprehended and the firearm recovered. The student was taken to the Wayne County Youth Home while the case progresses in juvenile court.
At Monday’s school board meeting, School Supt. Pete Kudlak said the fifth student who was arrested April 21 had not been with the others at the subdivision but was with the four others when they got back and he was swept up with them by police and his loaded gun was discovered.
That student had been in school for five of the six hours on April 21.
Supt. Kudlak also said the students found with guns on March 7 and April 21 both live in Ypsilanti Township within the school district and are not Students of Choice. He also clarified that the other four students live elsewhere in the district.