Ohio teen accused in school standoff pleads guilty
Dec 19, 2013, 11:00 PM
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) – A 14-year-old student accused of triggering a lockdown and police standoff at a high school by flashing a pellet gun has pleaded guilty to three charges in juvenile court.
Police and other students said the boy had a pellet gun that looked like a real firearm and that he warned Scott High School’s principal and a security officer that he had it after he was sent to a room for disruptive students.
The boy pleaded guilty Wednesday to inducing panic, having an object indistinguishable from a gun and illegal conveyance of a deadly weapon for having a knife in his book bag. The Associated Press is not naming the student because of his age.
The teen’s mother told reporters after the hearing that her son had been bullied.
The school was on lockdown for more than an hour on Dec. 2 after police and witnesses said a confrontation led to the standoff.
The boy was kicked out of class and sent to a room for students serving in-school suspensions, where he told a school security officer that he had a gun, said Kayla Williams, a student who was inside the room.
The pellet gun looked like a real handgun, Toledo police spokesman Lt. Mark King said. The teen was taken into custody after he was isolated in a hallway.
The boy was holding the gun during the hourlong standoff but never pointed it at police during the standoff, King said.
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