Police: Loaded gun taken from juvenile after Mars basketball game
Adams Township police released additional information Tuesday, Feb. 14, about an incident involving a loaded gun outside a Mars Area High School basketball game Feb. 3.
A 9 mm handgun was brandished during a fight between several juveniles, which resulted in three male juveniles being charged, police said.
The juvenile with the weapon was held at gunpoint by a Mars school security officer until an officer with the Adams Township department took him into custody.
“The quick response by the Mars school officer stopped any further threat ...,” said Robert Scanlon, assistant chief. ”Thankfully, no shots were fired during the incident.”
In a statement posted to the district’s website late Feb. 3, superintendent Mark Gross wrote that the juvenile apprehended with the weapon was not a Mars Area student but did not provide information on the other two juveniles.
Scanlon said police initially were dispatched to the parking lot of Mars High School at 9:29 p.m. for reports of an active shooter.
The two officers were working security at the school for the boys basketball game against South Fayette High School.
Police said the Mars school officer located the juvenile with the gun, ordered him to drop the weapon and held him at gunpoint until the second officer arrived.
The handgun, which landed under a parked car when the juvenile dropped it, later was seized. Police said the gun was loaded, and a live round was found near the juvenile’s vehicle in the parking lot.
Three male juveniles were taken into custody by Adams Township police and charged. Two were released to juvenile probation officers, and a third was released to his parents.
Police said the juveniles were not all charged with the same violations.
The violations they were charged with included riot, riot with a gun, simple assault, possession of a firearm by a minor, possession of a weapon on school grounds, disorderly conduct, and firearms not to be carried without a license.
