Judge Orders Kids Found With Guns At Brownsville Middle Be Held
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - There are new details about four Brownsville Middle School students who are accused of possessing a loaded gun at the school and who were brought before a Judge in bond court Thursday morning.
Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho is also speaking out, saying "I think the quick response on the part of students and police prevented a tragedy.
Sources tell CBS4's Peter D'Oench that the incident may have stemmed from a shooting the day before less than two blocks away from the school and there are concerns about the possibility of turf wars spilling over in to the school.
CLICK HERE To Watch Peter D'Oench's Report
A new police report says one of the arrested students said he was showing one weapon to friends who are gang members. Another student who had a weapon in his waistband claimed he was holding on to it for another student but he did not know his name. The report said the serial number on the weapon had been scratched off and noted that the gun had been stolen from the state Georgia.
The report said the students possessed .25 caliber and .45 caliber semi-automatic pistols.
In court, after reviewing the police department's incident report, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Christina Miranda decided that all four should remain in custody for now.
"The facts of the arrest form being that the gun was loaded and location of the firearm I find that it is in the community's best interest that he be held in secure detention," said Judge Miranda.
She denied a defense request that the students be allowed to have home detention.
Their next court date in Juvenile Court is Friday, Sept. 26th at 1:30 p.m.
All four students, whose ages range from 12 to 15 years of age, have been charged with possessing a loaded firearm on school grounds. Their names are not being made public due to their ages.
Initial reports from police said one gun was found on a student and another was found in a backpack at the school at 4899 N.W. 24th Avenue. Two backpacks were seized by police.
Special Miami-Dade Police K-9 officers swept the school for additional weapons but didn't find any.
One student said she saw a fellow 6th grader waving one of the guns around. That student's identity was withheld for their protection.
"A boy in school was waving around the gun and someone told the principal about it. He wanted to show a friend his gun. I was frightened," she said.
The students told the schools resource officer about the guns.
School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told D'Oench that he encourages all students to come forward if they see something that is not right.
"I think a quick response on the part of the students and the police department alike averted what could have been a tragedy," said Carvalho. "This new initiative 'See Something, Say Something' is critically important."
"Here we had courageous students from the community who alerted our police department to something happening in the school. As a result we were able to quickly recover two guns from the school and making that school environment safer," said Carvalho.
"So my word is look, the only way to protect our kids and our schools is by having the community engaged. We teach kids well but the issue of 'respect and responsibility' needs to be the community's responsibility," said Carvalho.
"We teach kids well but the issue of respect and responsibility needs to be a community responsibility," he said. "And yesterday the kids did exactly the right thing. Schools are a reflection of the mood of the community so if something happens it is often transferred over to the school environment. That's what we need to address. The issue of school violence always begins with community violence."
"For us to truly address it, we need a sensitive community and we need to engage parents," Carvalho said. "The issue of respect and responsibility needs to be taught at home because we teach reading, writing and arithmetic. Schools are a safe haven. The community has far more violence and we need to keep it that way. But to truly address community violence, the community needs to show up just as our police officers and our teachers do."
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