Student accused of bringing gun to Edmonds high school faces felony charges

A student arrested for allegedly bringing a gun to a high school in Edmonds now faces felony firearm charges.

According to court documents, staff searched the 15-year-old's backpack after being alerted he brought a gun to school, but they could not find it, so they unknowingly sent him back to class with a loaded gun.

On Sept. 30, two Edmonds-Woodway High School students went to administrators and said their classmate had a gun.

They showed staff text messages from the student asking them to hold his gun because he thought he would be searched, court documents say. The student was called into the vice principal's office, but they could not find the gun in his backpack, so he was sent back to class.

FOX 13 News reached out to the Edmonds School District, and the spokesperson said administrators are not trained to conduct pat-down searches of students.

"In this instance, the information administration initially received was about a weapon in the student’s backpack. Staff interviewed the student and conducted the search. They did not find a weapon and the student was returned to class," said Harmony Weinberg with the school district. "Later more information was shared and staff had a more credible reason to believe a student may be carrying a weapon, and as a result, they called 911 to investigate and handle the situation."

One of the students talked to staff again, concerned they would face retaliation. Staff said they did not find a gun in the suspect's backpack, but the student said he had a gun at school the previous day.

RELATED: Edmonds-Woodway High School student arrested after bringing gun to campus

Get breaking news alerts in the FREE FOX 13 Seattle app. Download for Apple iOS or Android. And sign up for BREAKING NEWS emails delivered straight to your inbox.

Then, a third student came forward and said the suspect hid the gun in his waistband while his backpack was being searched, according to court documents.

The school called Edmonds Police and went into lockdown. Officers arrived and found a loaded Glock 27 handgun on the suspect, tucked into a pocket of shorts he wore under his pants.

According to court documents, the gun's serial numbers were scratched off and unreadable.

The suspect is charged with juvenile possession of a firearm; he is already under home arrest for a first-degree robbery charge.

EdmondsCrime and Public SafetyNews