14-Year-Old Packs 9mm Heat for School

School security at Staten Island's Dreyfus Intermediate School was on the alert for a possible water balloon prank, but they ended up finding a student carrying a 9mm gun and a magazine clip. Darren Rivera, 14, was charged as an adult with gun possession.

Rivera had run past a security checkpoint yesterday, prompting security and police officers to look for him. The boy, who apparently threatened to kill another student during a fight last week, claimed he found the gun on the way to school. Prosecutors asked for Rivera's bail to be set at $100,000, but his public defender said, " Allegedly, the gun was found in one pocket, and the clip was found in the other. This gun wasn't ready to be fired," and bail was set at $50,000.

Rivera is being held in the juvenile detention section of Rikers; he faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. Parents and students had no idea that a student was found with a gun. A student reasoned to NY1, "Nobody told us about somebody finding a gun, 'cause if they would of told us that, everybody probably would of panicked."

As the Dreyfus itself, 15-year-old Jasmine Palermo said to the Advance, "I thought it was a good school. But lately I've heard mad stuff going on around there."

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By Jen Chung in News on June 28, 2008 1:23 PM

Comments [rss]

whantmoore

Well since I am a product of the public school system I do understand what this kid is going through. You never want to be the only kid in school with out a gun.

scott10130

Sheesh, it's just a kid. Should his whole life be ruined because he's depressed? A lot of kids (mostly girls) felt like killing other kids when I was in intermediate school.

emilydickinson

@Snoopy: The Advance says it's a Highpoint 9mm Luger, which is basically a knockoff composite/Glock design. It's actually a cheap weapon, and I imagine you'd pay around $200 USD or so.

One of the smartest things we've done in NYC is to set minimum sentences for people caught with illegal firearms regardless of whether or not they committed a crime with the weapon. I'm usually more sympathetic, but I think if you bring a weapon into a public school you should go to a jail for a long time.

sonyactivision

That kid WOULD OF made himself a hero at your school, eh, Spirit of '76?

JacqueMehoff

If I found that gun, I would keep my mouth shut.

Do a fluff and buff, get a wallet holster,

and keep it in your back pocket till needed.

Albert Sharpton

15 year old middle school student ? LULZ!!!! I bet she'll be sucking mad dick before her 18th birthday.

Snoopy

Actually it should be.

Teacher Spirit? I really have to take a pee. Can I be excused to go to the bathroom? Will I miss the lesson on excessive or missing punctuation?

Snoopy

Teacher Spirit? I really have to take a pee can I be excused to go to the bathroom? Will I miss the lesson on excessive punctuation?

Spirit of 76

It's just a quote you pedantic morons.

What, are you saying the student wrote it down for them and they printed it verbatim? The funny thing would be if that student actually knew the proper wording but NY1 was the one that screwed it up during transcription.

BTW, it should be, "It's just a quote, you pedantic morons."

Snoopy

Where does a fourteen year old get a gun like that? I'm sure you don't just find them on your way to school. It's has to cost some serious $$$. Where did he get the money?

Did the gun have one in the chamber? They say it wasn't ready to be fired, but it takes about two seconds to feed the clip and another perhaps to load the chamber if there isn't one in there already.

west side Michael

Ah shucks! at least in the 1950's we made our

own "zipguns" from wood and a rubber band in H.S.

The kid said he found this gun and bullets on

his way to school that morning.

sinisterteashop

Atta boy!

Love,

The US Supreme Court

neoconfascist

It's just a quote you pedantic morons.

BQE

"...they would of told us that, everybody probably would of panicked...."

I'm assuming that this was a transcription from NY1 TV News, and if so, all I can say is "wow, how'd this one pass the editor's desk?"

Spirit of 76

"Nobody told us about somebody finding a gun, 'cause if they would of told us that, everybody probably would of panicked."

Oh, my God. The stupidity is spreading. A major news outlet like NY1 actually used the nonexistent "would of" clause? Nobody who so much as set one toe in a journalism school should make such a stupid mistake. What is the world coming to?