From the Harford County Sheriff’s Office:
At approximately 11 am on Friday, November 9, 2018, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officer assigned to the Center for Educational Opportunity, working with school administrators, investigated the possibility a weapon had been introduced into the school setting.
Officials monitoring students upon arrival and utilizing various investigative and surveillance techniques found what appeared to be a Beretta 92F style handgun in a locker belonging to a student. Further investigation revealed the weapon to be a BB gun with the orange safety tip intentionally removed. During the same investigation, information was developed that a second weapon was also brought to school.
A subsequent search of another student’s property yielded what appeared to be a Smith and Wesson semi-automatic handgun. Further inspection revealed this weapon to also be a BB gun, also with the safety tip intentionally removed.
Two students, both male, ages 13 and 14, were brought to the office and appropriately questioned about the recovered weapons. During the interview, a folding knife was located on the person of one of the students being questioned.
Both juveniles were charged via the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services with possession of a deadly weapon on school property. Both were released into the custody of their parents after processing.
Later in the afternoon, in a separate incident, a 13 year old male was charged by referral to Teen Court for possession of a dangerous weapon on school property after he brought an air soft gun to Edgewood Middle School. School administrators and the Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officer acted quickly to investigate the incident, identify those involved, isolate the student and resolve the situation safely.
Both incidents were brought to quick and safe resolutions due to partnership between school administrators and the Harford County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officers.
Of the incident Sheriff Gahler remarked, “It is ironic that during the training for school administrators on the response to an active assailant, three weapons were removed from the same school where the training was being conducted. But, this incident goes a long way to highlight the reasons why proactive policing needs to exist inside our schools. It is through the vigilance of our administrators, teachers, and SRO’s that we can provide a safe learning environment for all.”
What’s a Press Release from the Sheriff’s Office about a sadly routine matter without a “quote” from our self-serving Sheriff Gahler? You’d think he’d ease up after just being given another four years.
I would think he would continue to work just as hard and that is why he earned another four years and my vote. What do you think this is the Town of Belair where chief jobs are just given away?
I can’t belleve this guy has 4 more years!
Yea that’s just what we need- more guns in schools……ugh
I would hardly call BB guns a “deadly weapon” or an Airsoft gun a “dangerous weapon”. They should be called “prohibited items” or something of that nature. The worst thing about having items like that in school is the danger of being blown away by the “Resource Officer” who may have thought the items were real weapons. That is what these kids need to understand….
I agree with “The Crusher”, BB guns are NOT deadly weapons, BUT, they could be confused as one by anyone (including law enforcement), which could in turn, make it lethal to the holder in the event of a confrontation with the same.
Therefore (and obviously), they definitely shouldn’t be allowed in any school setting.
Take a BB or a pellet in the right part of your body, it most surely can be fatal.
There is only one reported death by a BB gun that I can find. In 2010, an 11 year old boy was accidentally shot in his chest at point blank range by a Daisy Pump BB Rifle, which penetrated his sternum and entered his heart. The Daisy Pump BB Rifle gains velocity by the number of pumps by its user and this particular incident was a result of over 8 pumps being used. However, none of these pistols which were found is capable of the velocity generated by the BB Rifle. I will agree that certain pellet rifles could be dangerous as well, but these BB pistols are not deadly. Your child is more at risk of being killed in school by someone stabbing them with a pen or pencil than one of these BB pistols. As previously stated, the greatest risk of carrying a BB pistol in school is the Resource Officer thinking that you have a REAL gun and being shot by him. That’s just the way it is…..
Thankfully all the weapons were BB guns. Something most students at the age of 13 do not consider them weapos of killing.
The school and the resource officer are to be commnended for there actions and bringing it to the attention of all students that guns of any kind do not belong in a school setting.
May this be a lesson to all those that arming teachers is the wrong approach to handling this type of problem. Well trained teachers and well trained resource officers are the key to this problem, along with informing students no gun of any kind are to be brought onto school property.
Another thank you to those involved for there efforts in keeping schools safe, even if it was a BB gun.
This comment section needs to be improved when writing a comment. The comment section is so light it is difficult to find any typo errors. Like the post above. I read that post 3 times looking for typo errors, yet I missed the one that is missing the “N” in weapons.
The comment section also needs to help the people like Gordon who don’t know the difference between there and their I guess. Typical Liberal! It’s not Gordon’s fault he made a typo or doesn’t know the correct use of a word. It is the page’s fault or maybe the keyboard’s fault!
Here is a concept, Gordon, IT IS YOUR FAULT PERIOD! Suck it up and do better!
The Truth, your are a very simple minded person.
Just why are people such as yourself, who have nothing constructive to add, allowed to post.
THE TRUTH HURTS:
Spelling Nazi Alert.
Typical Trump supporter. bellyaching about nonsense and b.s.!
The comment section is too damn light and fosters spelling errors which in turn fosters the Spelling Nazi hysteria!
Turn on Fox propaganda Mr. Truth! The caravan is coming! The caravan is coming!
This comment section needs to be improved when writing a comment. The comment section is so light it is difficult to find any typo errors. Like the post above. I read that post 3 times looking for typo errors, yet I missed the one that is missing the “N” in weapons.
I think it’s funny how the article clearly says to Harford County Schools but the article only mentions one. Just another attempt to make Edgewood seem like the worst place on Earth while acting like the other schools in the area are not equally at risk. Name the other school!!!
The Center for Educational Opportunity is in Aberdeen, next to the high school!
Students that attend there are from all over Harford County!
No it mentions that the 1st 2 were found in the CEO in Aberdeen.
Tell them why……those kids end up at that facility
Do you need glasses? Hopefully you’re not operating a motor vehicle on Harford County roads under the same conditions that you’re having such a hard time seeing letters on some electronic devices screen.
I’m not sure if you’re trolling or not, but you can type your reply in some word processing program/application, like Microsoft Word, and then once all the errors are corrected you can easily copy and paste the entire reply here.
Thank god from the diligent work of Sheriff Jeff Gahler and the members of the Harford County Sheriffs office many birds and cats will be spared.This is exactly the sort of hard work that deserves my vote and tax dollar. Keep up the good work.
ROLFLMAO:
There is no doubt in my mind that you are not a supporter of Sheriff Gahler or his Deputies.That is your prerogative. My father once said you never know just how smart or dumb someone is until they open their mouth. In case you were not aware the school in question was created as an alternative education facility for kids that for various reasons have been removed from public schools. Some of those reasons include assaults on teachers and the commission of serious crimes. With that being said your statement regarding the safety of birds and cats was in my mind a poor attempt of sarcasm. In my career as a police officer I saw on numerous occasions lookalike BB and toy guns utilized in armed robberies and other serious crimes. I once witnessed a brother police officer shoot and kill a young man who pointed a 9mm BB gun at us in a subdued light situation. With regard to the recovery of the aforementioned weapons I view it as heads up police work which very well could have very possibly prevented subsequent criminal activity or even something even more tragic. Again, I am not trying to influence your opinion of Sheriff Gahler, his officers, or police in general but hope you can appreciate the logic. Preventing crime and saving lives.
Cool story bruh. You shoud seriously take advantage of the healthcare provided by the county to get that noggin checked out. You got some serious problems going on.
The issue here is what gets released too the press and what is kept secret by the department. Here we have a detailed article on bb guns in schools. But we miss the release of a local business in Street that has over $100,000 in equipment stolen during a B&E that was then used to steal an ATM from Wells Fargo Bank in Forest Hill resulting in a chase where the preps elude the Sheriff. Do you find it odd this happening just prior to the election and not a single peep about it? I could go on and on but seriously just read the releases here in the Dagger it’s a joke.
So you be proud of the resounding success’s of BB guns taken off the street while what is really happening if known is an embarrassment.
I understand your concerns regarding transparency in journalism and your concerns are genuine. I only wished to respond to the post of ROFLMAO and attempt to provide him/her insight in to the way things are. Was recovering a couple of BB guns the police incident of the century. No and I’m not sure it is front page news. My point was this. Some of the students attending alternative education have and will continue to make bad decisions. There was a very good chance that those items were in the school for reasons other than shooting birds and cats as ROFLMAO sarcastically posted. There was a really strong possibility that those BB guns could have been used in some type of criminal activity which could have had very tragic consequences. I think the recovery was prudent proactive police work. Nothing more and nothing less but sadly in this world we live in is haters will continue to hate.
This isn’t journalism these are releases from the Sheriffs office. Guess you aren’t a detective are you.
It is very hard to have a batte of wits with an unarmed person. There will be no more posts on this thread. Haters are going to hate
It is very hard to have a batte of wits with an unarmed person. There will be no more posts on this thread. Haters are going to hate and once a troll always a troll Lol
There will be no more posts on this thread
once a troll always a troll Lol
It is very hard to have a batte of wits with an unarmed person. There will be no more posts on this thread
Do you Promise?
They look similar to the Guns raffles off at the Penman Gun bingo. Didn’t Gayler support that bingo?
The same guy who endorsed weapon raffles isn’t he? He did not miss an opportunity in the media did he.
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