Lynn boy busted at Breed for weapon

LYNN – A Breed Middle School 13-year-old who brought an unloaded paint-ball gun to school is the first student arrested and suspended under the city’s ordinance prohibiting possession of weapons of any kind in schools.School Attendance and Discipline Specialist Rick Iarrobino said Breed’s principal found the gun on the boy Wednesday afternoon and called police who arrested the youth, took him to the police station and released him to his parents. He was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon in school and violation of the weapons prohibition ordinance.”This is the first arrest under the new ordinance pertaining to possession of any object that could cause physical harm,” Iarrobino said.He said the boy did not threaten anyone with the paint ball gun. Iarrobino will meet with the boy and his parents next week to weigh additional disciplinary measures.The City Council approved the weapons prohibition ordinance in August after police detailed 57 police responses over the last three years to disturbances in local public schools. They also told councilors officers were called 30 times to weapons-related incidents in schools. Those calls resulted in six arrests.The weapons ban became official on Oct. 13. It bans anyone except law enforcement officials from bringing “any weapon or instrument so fashioned to be a weapon or any article or instrument to potentially cause harm” from being brought into a school or onto school property.The ordinance lists paint-ball guns under its definition of “weapon.” It gives the Police Department authority to enforce the ordinance and prescribes a $300 fine for an ordinance violation.Breed parent Tina Ouellet in an interview with The Item on Thursday said she supports the weapons ban ordinance.”Anything that could look like a gun should not be allowed,” she said.Parent Lindsey Lewis thinks suspension, but not arrest, was the appropriate response to the paint ball gun discovery.”It’s a toy, not a real weapon.”But Breed mother Kristin Chasse thinks several approaches, including the weapons ban, are needed to keep schools safe. She wants to see police in schools and said anti-violence awareness “starts at home.””My feeling is the city has to do something about violence, weapons and gangs. Our kids are not safe, period,” Chasse said.A 16-year-old Classical High School student who police said stabbed four other students last Thursday was not charged with violating the weapons possession ban because the incident occurred on Keslar Avenue and Holyoke Street, opposite Classical but not on school grounds.The teen pleaded not delinquent in Juvenile Court to charges of armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a knife. He is being held pending a dangerousness hearing in Juvenile Court. Iarrobino said an expulsion hearing will be scheduled for the 16-year-old once he is released from state Youth Services custody.