News - Local/State

Tuesday, May. 20, 2008

No charges to be filed in gun brought to school

No charges will be filed against a 9-year-old boy who police say brought a loaded handgun to Rock Hill's York Road Elementary School last month, a judge in family court ruled Monday.

Authorities said the fourth-grader was not competent to be charged. In the case of a minor, they said, that means the child didn't understand the difference between right and wrong.

"They don't have a good enough understanding of the wrongfulness of their conduct," Solicitor Kevin Brackett said, explaining the decision. "They can't adequately understand how the system works so they can assist their defense lawyers."

The S.C. Department of Social Services did not find evidence that the boy had been abused or neglected, and he was released to his mother after the hearing.

"I'm sorry for what my child has done, and I cannot justify his behavior," the boy's mother, who is not being named to protect the identity of her son, tearfully told the judge Monday. The Herald generally doesn't identify juveniles who are accused of crimes.

The mother and her son left the family court building hand-in-hand, smiling. The family will be required to seek counseling.

No charges for gun owner

Police say the 9-year-old found the gun, which belonged to a friend of his older brother's, in the front side pocket of the car he was riding to school.

The owner of the gun left the weapon in the car when he stayed at the family's house the previous night, police said. The boy's sister, who drove him to school, did not know the gun was in the car.

The gun's owner, who came forward and told police that the weapon was his, will not be charged, said Rock Hill police Sgt. Brad Redfearn. The owner had the gun legally and was planning to take it to his father in Chester, police said.

Redfearn said the gun owner told police that he was trying to keep the gun away from children who were in the family's house by leaving it in the car.

Teresa Scott, the mother of one of two boys who police reports state were threatened with the gun by the 9-year-old in a school bathroom, was livid at the outcome of Monday's hearing. Scott was upset that no one was held responsible.

"I don't think public schools are making our children safe at all," Scott said. "To me, that's just not right. Someone needs to be held responsible for what they've done."

Scott said her son was traumatized after the incident. Police said the 9-year-old pointed the gun at her child and threatened him.

Scott's son, Westyn Scott, told The Herald after the April 15 incident that the boy, who was his friend, took a bullet out of the gun and told him it would be in his body. Westyn said he took the bullet to his teacher.

"He'll never get over what happened," Teresa Scott said. "You can't even mention a gun."

Scott's husband, David, said it doesn't seem right that nobody will be held responsible.

"I'm not saying a kid that age, you put it on his police record and ruin his whole life, I'm not saying that, because maybe he didn't know no better," he said. "No kid deserves to have their whole life ruined over one incident, but I'm just saying that he needs to be punished."

The boy who brought the gun to school was suspended from Rock Hill schools indefinitely after the incident.

Rock Hill director of student services Keith Wilks would not say whether the boy is back in school, citing privacy concerns. However, Wilks did say that the disciplinary matter has not been resolved.

The school district's policy states that any student who brings a firearm to school will be expelled for at least one year.