A tense search for a Shaler Area High School student ended when authorities took a 16-year-old boy into custody after his mother found a stolen gun in his room. Starting yesterday morning, multiple law enforcement agencies combed the 1400 block of Anderson Road, although police maintained there was no direct threat to the school or the public, as per WPXI.
The discovery was made by the teen's mother, who, upon trying to wake him, found the handgun on his bed, leading to an escalation where her son fled into the woods with his backpack, which was later found empty of weapons. Despite the boy's disappearance, Shaler Area School District officials reportedly lifted the high school's secure status by 1:15 p.m., allowing for the continuation of classes, CBS News Pittsburgh reported.
With no sign of the student yesterday, Shaler Township Police Chief Sean Frank underlined the unfortunate but increasingly common circumstances around such discoveries, stating, "But as you see the signs of the times that there are young people with guns and access to guns, and we talk about it every day, that go into unlocked cars and steal guns, and that's how this happens," according to CBS News Pittsburgh. The Allegheny County Sheriff's Office reportedly used a drone and three K-9s to aid in the search.
Police took the student, who has not been publicly identified due to his juvenile status, into custody later that day at a house on Soose Road where he frequented, as reported by WPXI. Having taken a threatening tone with his mother earlier, according to her, that he'd be dead if she didn't return the gun, the situation raised alarm as the firearm was found to be stolen from another jurisdiction with an attempted removal of its serial number. Juvenile charges are pending.
