The News Room [News Release]
Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615
Release Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Prompt action leads sheriff's deputy to rifle hidden under bed of Highland Park 4th-grader --- Quick action by a Wayne County Sheriff’s Office school resource officer may have prevented a tragedy last week when she discovered that a 4th grader at Liberty Elementary School was keeping a loaded 22-caliber rifle under his mattress at home. According to Sheriff Warren Evans, the boy said he had found the gun in the family's basement and was hiding it so he could keep it.
Early Friday morning, a teacher notified Cpl. Michelle Garland, who works as a resource officer at Liberty, that she had overheard the nine-year-old boy telling a classmate about "his gun." Cpl. Garland then spoke to the boy who told her where he found the gun and where he was keeping it.
Garland then went to the boy’s home and spoke to his parents about the issue. Stunned at their son's statements, they allowed the officer into their home, where the boy led her directly to his bedroom where he was keeping the sawed-off rifle under his mattress. At the time it was found, the gun had one live round in the chamber, although a part of the gun was missing, which would have made it much harder to discharge, Evans said.
"This is a great example how our resource officers are making a difference in Highland Park’s schools", Evans said. "Having a trusted person close at hand that a teacher or a student can come to with a serious issue may have prevented a real tragedy here. It is terrifying to think what might have happened had this boy brandished that gun to the wrong person."
Evans said the incident highlights the great progress the Highland Park School district has made since Sheriff Evans posted a deputy at each of the city’s five public schools in 2003. According to school administrators, reports of serious misconduct incidents involving students plummeted by about 90 percent in the first year with the school resource officers.
During the 2002-03 school year, approximately 1,500 incidents were reported across the district, compared to only about 150 during the 2003-04 school year. As a result, teachers and administrators report a greatly improved learning and working climate and increasing enrollment from students who live outside the Highland Park school district.
At this point, it is unclear who owned the rifle. The boy’s father indicated that he had found in the basement shortly after the family moved into the home eight months ago. He said he hid the gun in the ceiling of the basement, thinking that it would be safely out of reach there.
###
» Go To Top