THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 2, 1994 TAG: 9411020438
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
A 15-year-old Bayside High School student was arrested Tuesday for taking a stolen .44-caliber Magnum revolver to school and hiding it in a gym locker, police said.
Police spokesman Mike Carey said the gun was not loaded but the student had six rounds of ammunition with him.
Carey said the student stole the gun during a burglary Saturday of a mobile home in the Wedgewood Mobile Homes Park.
Police charged the student with possession of a firearm on school property, a felony, possession of a pager on school property and possession of a firearm by a person under 18.
For the break-in, police charged the student with grand larceny and burglary, and grand larceny of a firearm. According to the burglary report, the gun has diamonds in the grip and is valued at $1,400.
This is the eighth time since classes began Sept. 7 that police have made arrests after gun investigations at Virginia Beach schools. Eleven guns - including an assault rifle found in the car of a Salem High School student last month - have been confiscated.
Fourteen guns were found in city schools in the 1993-94 school year.
The weapon confiscated Tuesday - a Smith & Wesson .44-caliber Magnum revolver with a six-inch barrel - is one of the most powerful handguns manufactured. It fires a bullet with a diameter of almost one-half inch.
Police said they discovered the weapon after investigating an early morning gun report at another school. That report turned up nothing, but officers Chris Hession and Dan Lindemeyer were told that a Bayside student had taken a gun to school, Carey said.
When police confronted the student at Bayside High at about 9:45 a.m., he led them to an unused gym locker where the gun was stored.
The student has been suspended and faces expulsion. Because of his age, his name was not released. He is being held in Tidewater Detention Home.
Guns have been confiscated this year from students or former students at Green Run, Tallwood, Salem and Bayside high schools, and at Landstown Middle School.
The Bayside case is still under investigation.
KEYWORDS: ARREST HANDGUNS SCHOOLS ROBBERIES by CNB