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Trooper's Son Arrested In Gun Theft That Led To Scare
POSTED: 10:28 am PDT April 20, 2007
UPDATED: 5:38 pm PDT April 20, 2007
TACOMA, Wash. -- The 15-year-old son of a state trooper has been arrested in the theft of six of the trooper's guns after three of the weapons led to a scare at a high school in Federal Way on Thursday.
Police told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Kevin McCarty that the trooper's son was arrested at the trooper's house on Thursday night at 11 p.m. The boy had taken the guns from a safe and made it look like a burglary, investigators said.
VIDEO: Teen Accused Of Stealing Guns From Father
Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way was locked down briefly after another 15-year-old student brought the loaded guns onto campus, school district officials told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.
Police said the boy told investigators he had no plans to harm anyone. No one was injured, and the student was arrested without incident. He was being held at the King County Juvenile Detention Center in Seattle.
RAW VIDEO: Student With Guns Causes Lock Down
The name of the student, a 10th-grader at the 1,600-student school, was not immediately released. He said he intended to sell the handguns that a school police officer found in his backpack, Federal Way police spokeswoman Stacy Flores said.
A 16-year-old who turned himself in on Thursday implicated the trooper's son in the theft of the weapons, investigators told McCarty. He and the trooper's son are expected in juvenile court on Friday.
The hour-long lockdown began around 12:45 p.m., after a school police officer got a tip from a mother whose daughter had sent a text message saying she thought a student might be carrying weapons, district spokeswoman Debra Stenberg said.
The police officer and principal went searching for the student, located him in a hallway, and found he was carrying three firearms and extra ammunition in his backpack, Flores said.
The student was arrested and taken to the Federal Way police station, police and school officials said. Flores confirmed all three weapons were loaded.
The three guns taken from the student were among six weapons stolen Thursday morning from a state trooper's home, said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff's Office.
The weapons had been in a gun safe, but Troyer did not know if the safe was locked.
Three other guns taken from the home were recovered Thursday in a Federal Way apartment, and another suspect was detained, police said.
Students at Todd Beamer were sent home after the lockdown was ended at 1:51 p.m., about 15 minutes before the normal end of the school day, Stenberg said.
Copyright 2007 by KIROTV.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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