Student arrested, expelled after bringing gun, bullets to BHS

A freshman student at Belleville High School has been arrested and expelled for bringing a 45-caliber pistol to school in his backpack, along with a loaded magazine.
Belleville Police Chief Hal Berriman said the young man was taken into custody the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 15, after school officials got information on the gun from another student and investigated.
Belleville Police Cpl. Kris Faull, who serves as School Resource Officer, and Officer Jeff Wickham went to the school and took the 14-year-old student into custody and confiscated the weapon, Chief Berriman said. They took the student to a juvenile facility in downtown Detroit where he was charged.
On Friday, Jan. 22, a week after the incident, a parent who just found out about the gun contacted Channel 4 TV News and a cameraman and reporter Shawn Ley went to BHS and talked to Principal Abdul Madyun, parents, and students.
A parent said he was upset because not one parent had been alerted to having a gun and ammunition in school, although the school had sent an alert when a student had strep throat.
He said a week after the incident parents had yet to hear from the school.
Principal Madyun said, “No children were ever in danger,” and he and School Supt. Michael Van Tassel made the decision not to alert parents.
School staff said they didn’t hear about it until almost a week after the incident.
It was reported that the student stole the gun from a relative’s home because he was having issues with another student and was scared of the other student’s friends.
“There was not a loaded gun in school,” Madyun told Channel 4. “So, again, where’s the line?”
When reporter Ley persisted, Madyun did admit that, “There were bullets in the backpack. In a separate part.”
The parent, whose face was not shown on camera, said if the bullets were in the backpack with the gun, he could take it into a restroom and load it in two seconds.
Madyun said if parents want to discuss why they were not informed of the weapon and ammunition in their school, he has an open-door policy or they could call.
He said he is ready to talk to and meet with parents about why an alert was not sent.
Gun at Tyler Elementary
Van Buren Township Police Lt. Charles Bazzy confirmed that VBT police were called to Tyler Elementary School on Jan. 12. An 8-year-old boy was found with a bb-gun in his backpack.
Lt. Bazzy said there were no bbs or CO2 cartridge with the gun.
He said police were told the school would handle the situation internally. Parents said they have not been informed of the gun in their school.
Possible threat to BHS
On Monday, BHS was considered one of the schools that was threatened by an anonymous person on social media and some parents took their children out of classes.
Lt. Bazzy said Ann Arbor police were investigating threats in their jurisdiction and there were a rash of threats in Southeastern Michigan, including Romulus, Lake Orion, Roseville, and five in Detroit. There also were threats in San Francisco and southern Florida.
While some schools dismissed classes for the day, the Van Buren district considered the threat not credible.