A 14-year-old boy was arrested Tuesday for having a loaded gun in a school in South Boston.
Boston police said they received a call around 2 p.m. Tuesday to respond to the area of 215 Dorchester St. for a found weapon. That address is the listed address for the UP Academy Boston.
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School staff told police they had become aware that a student might be in possession of a gun. They took the student out of class and recovered a firearm from his backpack and then called police to take custody of the weapon.
The gun was fully loaded, with its hammer cocked back.
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NBC10 Boston has learned that the student with the gun and another student had gotten into a verbal altercation at some point earlier in the day and a third student overheard the suspect say that he was going to shoot the other student and had a gun in his backpack.
A teacher confronted the suspect, who admitted to having a gun in his backpack. He told the teacher he was holding it for a friend and that it was for protection. The teacher searched the bag and found the gun, clearly visible at the bottom of the bag.
The 14-year-old was placed under arrest and charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and unlawful possession of a firearm on school grounds. He is expected to be arraigned in Boston Juvenile Court at a later date.
The mother of the student who was arrested spoke with NBC10 Boston on Wednesday, saying her son told her he found the gun at a park near the school and felt he needed it for protection.
"My son is a good kid," she said. "He has a little bit of a disability. I think he was influenced by somebody else. It's not in his character to do this."
The boy's mother said her son had been having problems in school and contacted the school to get help for him before Tuesday's incident. She was scheduled to meet with school officials later this week. She now said he could be expelled from school pending the outcome of the investigation.
Sonia Satchell, a member of the school's board of trustees, also spoke with NBC10 Boston about the investigation.
"They're trying to see what's going on," she said. "I know they're in details with the parents, trying to figure out what's happening there."
