Students Suspected of Bringing AK-47 to Pinole School
July 22, 2008 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
The two students arrested at Pinole Valley High School on Friday following a six-hour lockdown of the campus are suspected of bringing an AK-47 assault rifle to school, Pinole police said Monday.
The male students, whose ages were not released, both were arrested on suspicion of possession of an illegal assault weapon, possession of a machine gun, bringing a firearm onto school grounds, being a minor in possession of live ammunition, being a minor with a concealed weapon, being a minor in possession of a firearm with prior conviction, a probation violation and marijuana transportation. Both have previous gun and ammunition possession arrests or convictions on their records, police said.
Despite the charges and contrary to earlier reports, no gun or ammunition was found on the students or recovered at the school, Pinole police Cmdr Pete Janke said.
“In our investigation, we believe an AK-47 was brought on school grounds,” Janke said. “We’re still investigating what happened to the weapon.”
Janke said he did not know whether the students remained in custody Monday. Their names have not been released because they are minors.
AK-47s are restricted in California, where new purchases of many semiautomatic rifles have been banned.
Pinole Valley High was locked down around 8 a.m. Friday after a student riding an AC Transit bus told district officials and police that he saw another student concealing a gun in his clothing and may have brought it onto campus.
