13-year-old boy arrested after look-alike gun found in his book bag, NC sheriff says
A North Carolina 13-year-old was arrested Friday after deputies said they found what turned out to be an airsoft gun in his book bag.
Airsoft pistols resemble guns, but federal law doesn’t consider them to be firearms, according to firearms retailer Mir Tactical. Airsoft guns discharge BB pellets and are available to all ages, according to the company website.
The student was arrested after a sheriff’s school resource officer at Third Creek Middle School in Statesville learned of a possible weapon on campus, Sheriff Darren Campbell said in a news release.
A search of the student’s book bag turned up a black metal pistol with the barrel painted black, according to the sheriff. Closer inspection confirmed the gun was an airsoft pistol, he said.
Investigators charged the juvenile with possession of a weapon other than firearms and explosives on school grounds.
School administrators suspended the student for 10 days and possibly longer, Campbell said.
The student was released to a parent and told not to return to any Iredell-Statesville Schools property pending the outcome of his case, the sheriff said.
The arrest was the second in a week involving an Iredell-Statesville Schools student and an airsoft pistol.
A student headed to Lake Norman High School in Mooresville flashed what appeared to be a gun at another driver during a Jan. 28 road-rage encounter, sheriff’s investigators said.
A deputy charged the student, 18-year-old Ethan Van Goodman of Mooresville, with misdemeanor possession of a weapon on school property after Goodman pulled onto his school campus after the encounter.