Gun, high-capacity magazine found inside Connecticut school
HAMDEN, Conn. — A Connecticut teenager was jailed on numerous charges Wednesday after a fight in school led to the discovery of a gun and a high-capacity magazine hidden in a classroom closet.
The 18-year-old student was first charged with assault and disorderly conduct on Tuesday after an altercation with a 16-year-old at the Hamden Collaborative Learning Center, police said.
Officers were called back later in the morning after school security received a report that handgun was in the school. They recovered the 9-millimeter gun and loaded magazine from inside the closet, police said. Police rearrested the 18-year-old on charges of carrying a pistol without a permit, negligent storage of a firearm, first-degree reckless endangerment, possession of a weapon on school grounds and illegal possession of a large-capacity magazine.
He is being held in lieu of a $150,000 bond. It was not clear Wednesday if he had hired an attorney.
Hamden police said they plan to have a school resource officer meet with staff and students daily at the school, which the district describes as an "alternative education program for students, grades 10-12, who have not achieved success in the larger school environment.”
Hamden, a New Haven suburb, is about 28 miles (45 kilometers) from Newtown, where 26 students and educators were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012.