12-year-old who brought loaded handgun to Shaw Middle School threatened to shoot student, documents say

A 12-year-old boy who brought a loaded gun to Shaw Middle School threatened to “pop” another student in the head before fleeing as a resource officer tried to detain him, court documents say.

Spokane police responded to the school Tuesday morning, causing a brief lockdown. The boy was found in a field north of the school after a resource officer tried to detain him. The boy was arrested on suspicion of unlawful possession of a firearm and having a dangerous weapon on school grounds.

Court records say another student was skipping class and hanging out with the boy near the stairs when she saw the barrel of a handgun inside his backpack. When she asked about it, he said he was holding it for someone.

The student criticized the boy for bringing a gun to school and he responded, “If you snitch, I will pop you in your head the next time I see you,” records say.

Another student who was skipping class told police the boy showed her the gun and asked her not to judge him. He said he had it because another student would be coming to the school, records say, but the police report did not give further details about the boy he expected to arrive at Shaw.

The second student who saw the boy’s gun reported the gun to her teacher, and the teacher notified the school resource officer. The officer found the boy in a room on the second floor of the school and tried to speak to him, but he resisted.

When the resource officer grabbed the backpack off the boy’s back, he broke free and ran down the stairs, court records say. The semiautomatic, 45-caliber Springfield model handgun found in the backpack had bullets loaded in the magazine, but no round was chambered in the barrel .

Resource officers in Spokane Public Schools are unarmed.

Police responded around 11:30 a.m., and officers were able to find the boy in the field during the temporary lockdown.

Bemiss and Regal elementary schools, On Track Academy and NEWTech Prep were also in “secure and teach” protocol for about 10 minutes, according to an email sent to the schools.

Spokane Public Schools encourages students to say something if they see something.