Police arrest high school student with loaded gun at school

On Wednesday evening, Oct. 12, the Belleville High School administration was notified that a current juvenile student posted a video of himself brandishing a firearm on social media.
It was undetermined at the time when the video was taken, however, it was clear the video was not taken at school, said a Friday press release from Belleville Police Chief David Robinson.
The Belleville Police Department was notified. Out of an abundance of caution, the Belleville police worked with school administrators and security staff and the juvenile in question was located as he arrived at school on Thursday, Oct. 13, at about 7 a.m. The student was detained and upon searching a firearm was recovered on his person. The student was immediately taken into custody without incident, the press release said.
The results of the initial investigation concluded that the student did not have any intent to do harm to any student or faculty at the school, Chief Robinson said.
The student was taken to the Wayne County Juvenile Detention Center on Thursday because he was a juvenile at age 17 years, 4 months. He was released on Friday.
Chief Robinson said he would like to thank the quick response by school administrators and his officers for the appropriate response to safely mitigate this situation.
WWJ Radio reported, “According to school administrators, the student told officers he was carrying the weapon to protect himself due to an ongoing neighborhood conflict.”
WWJ said according to school administrators the student told officers he was carrying the weapon to protect himself due to an ongoing neighborhood conflict. Police sought out and removed the other students thought to have been involved in the conflict.
A parent meeting was scheduled at 6 p.m. Thursday at the BHS Commons for parents and school officials to discuss the incident.
School Supt. Pete Kudlak said various news crews present for the meeting were kept outside and told they could talk to the parents entering and leaving the meeting, but not be in the meeting.
Supt. Kudlak said all three gun incidents at BHS stemmed from the same violent incident in April in West Willow neighborhood in Washtenaw County, which is within the school district boundaries.
He said Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Deputies were at the parent meeting and explained how they have been working to solve the problem, even putting people in jail.
“The kids don’t know how to handle it,” Kudlak said. He said the violent issue was not between kids but spilled over to them. He said it wasn’t a drug issue.
He said police from Washtenaw County will be present at an upcoming school board meeting to discuss the West Willow problem.
On March 7, a 15-year-old student was arrested at BHS after a loaded gun fell out of his clothes while changing in a restroom. A parent meeting brought 100.
On April 21, five students were detained after a loaded firearm was found in another juvenile’s book bag. The gun was found outside the school, but that student had been in school for five of the six hours of school that day. About 50 came to that aren’t meeting.
At the time, Kudlak said the students found with guns on March 7 and April 21 both live in Ypsilanti Township within the school district. The other four in the April 21 incident live elsewhere in the district.
At the April 25 school board meeting, board president Amy Pearce said the two students in the March and April gun incidents come from Ypsilanti Township and they are scared to get off the bus and walk home safely.
Another violent incident happened in West Willow on Sunday and, according to police, the student involved in last week’s gun possession was suspected to be involved.