Child won’t face charges for pellet gun

Despite a principal’s request, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department won’t seek charges against an Athol Elementary School fourth-grader who brought a pellet gun onto the playground Tuesday.

The 10-year-old boy told the principal that he had brought the weapon to school to scare children who were “being mean to him and teasing him,” according to a Sheriff’s Department report.

But his Air Soft pistol, which shoots plastic yellow pellets, does not qualify as a dangerous weapon or firearm under state and federal statutes, sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said Friday.

“It doesn’t meet the qualities,” he said, adding that the pellets would have to be expelled by an explosive, not by air, to qualify.

Athol Elementary School Principal Kathryn Thomas had sought charges against the boy after a teacher observed him lying on his stomach during lunch recess with the barrel of the toy gun sticking out of his coat, according to the report. When Thomas took the boy into her office and asked for the gun, he refused to relinquish it. Thomas eventually searched the child, who had stuck the pellet gun in his boot.

Because the boy had not pointed the gun at anyone or threatened anyone with it, his actions didn’t qualify as assault, Sheriff’s Deputy C.J. Case told Thomas.

But Lakeland School District officials said that the gun does meet district standards for imposing discipline.

“We’re still handling it as a violation of the district’s policy of dangerous weapons,” said Ron Schmidt, assistant superintendent.

The boy could face expulsion from school for one calendar year, Schmidt said. Lakeland School Board members will consider the matter in a closed session before their scheduled meeting Monday night, he added.

Schmidt said he hadn’t heard from any district parents concerned about the matter and didn’t know if any parents had contacted the school. Thomas was ill Friday and could not be reached for comment, a staff member said.

State and federal statutes define a firearm as any weapon, including a starter gun, which expels a projectile by the action of an explosive. The law defines a dangerous weapon as one that can be used to cause death or serious bodily injury.

The report said the boy started to cry when the principal took the gun. He said he didn’t want to give it to her because he didn’t want it to be taken away, the report said.

“Thomas said (the boy) told her he knew he would never get the gun back because his mom wouldn’t come to school to get it,” the report said.