Yahoo Autos Parent charged after 2nd grader brought gun to Grand Rapids elementary school
Officials have filed a pair of charges against a parent and one other individual after a 7-year-old boy brought an unloaded gun to a Grand Rapids elementary school earlier this month, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker announced Tuesday.
The child's mother, Aubrey Wilson, is charged with fourth-degree child abuse, and Wilson's fiancé, Chelsea Berkley, is charged with one count of felony firearms possession, Becker said at a news conference Tuesday. GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom said the weapon is believed to be stolen, and further charges are possible.
Becker said the gun was brought into the child's home and left in an area where he could access it, although he declined to answer specifically where the gun was located before the child obtained it.
Wilson and Berkley are fully cooperative, Becker said. An arraignment date has not been announced. The child abuse charge carries a penalty of up to one year in prison and the felony weapons charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
More: 3rd grader brings loaded gun to Grand Rapids elementary school, prompting backpack ban
Staff at Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School in Grand Rapids confiscated an unloaded handgun from a second grader on May 3, leading to the charges announced Tuesday. Winstrom said officials did not believe there were any threats of violence from the student.
Last Wednesday, a gun was confiscated from a third grader at Stocking Elementary School in Grand Rapids, prompting Grand Rapids Public Schools to announce a ban on backpacks until the end of the school year. Guns have also been confiscated twice at Burton Middle School, a GRPS institution, this school year. An investigation into the confiscation at Stocking Elementary remains ongoing, Winstrom said.
GRPS became the second Michigan district to ban backpacks this school year after Flint Community Schools announced a similar policy in late April.
"I've got about 23 years of police experience and I will say this is the first time and now the second time that I've ever encountered a child that small having a gun in school," Winstrom said. "It's new to me, and to see it twice in one week was very alarming."
GRPS is holding a community forum Saturday, May 20, for community members to attend and discuss school safety challenges.
"We are in the midst of a robust conversation about the future of securing our schools and your input is already guiding those discussions," Dr. Leadriane Roby, GRPS superintendent said in a letter sent to parents Sunday evening.
Earlier this year, lawmakers in Michigan passed legislation targeting keeping guns out of the hands of minors. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a new firearm safe storage law last month, which is slated to go into effect after the end of this year’s legislative session.
The law makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days and/or a $500 fine for failing to safely store a firearm obtained by a minor possessing or exhibiting the firearm in a public place or “in the presence of another person in a careless, reckless, or threatening manner.”
It also makes it a felony in cases where a minor injures or kills themselves or others.
Becker said the safe storage law, had it been in effect, would not have fundamentally changed the investigation into the events at Cesar E. Chavez Elementary but did say the new law would provide clarity when it comes to minors coming into possession of firearms.
Free Press reporters Clara Hendrickson and Lily Altavena contributed to this report.
Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @arpanlobo.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Parent charged after student brings gun to Michigan school
