12 year old makes gun-shape with hand; arrested, charged with felony

13-year-old Kansas Pupil has been charged with a felony after Creating a gun shape with her hands and pointing towards other students, police said.

The episode happened Sept. 18 in Westridge Middle School in Overland Park, Kansas, about 20 minutes out of Kansas City.

The Student was requested by another pupil to tip out"five people you would kill," Overland Park Chief of Police Frank Donchez told BuzzFeed News, then indicated toward these pupils with a finger-gun gesture prior to pointing toward her head.

A number of the pupils reported that the episode that night throughout the Shawnee Mission School District's site, which enables families and students to report bullying research workers, Donchez stated.

After Receiving the accounts, Westridge Middle School principal Jeremy McDonnell interviewed the 13-year-old pupil and people who saw the episode and subsequently contacted the school resource officer.

"[The Officer] then determined that several of the students are genuinely fearful of this girl, and combined with prior knowledge that he has, felt that an arrest was warranted," Donchez stated.

Donchez stated he Couldn't comment on the student's previous disciplinary history since she's a little. Calls to the middle school and school district weren't returned Saturday.

The pupil is now confronting a criminal Hazard charge and has been taken into a juvenile detention centre. The Johnson County District Attorney's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The girl's grandfather, Jon Cavanaugh, who Resides in California, '' he had been told that his granddaughter could face as much as a year in juvenile detention and advised the Kansas City Star he is"worried about [his] granddaughter's future."

"I think that this is something that probably could have been handled in the principal's office and got completely out of hand," Cavanaugh said. "She was just mouthing off."

According to the Kansas City Star, the woman is currently living with her grandfather in California.

Donchez disputed reports which the pupil was detained simply for making a hand gesture.

"Victims In this case were genuinely concerned and fearful of this individual," he explained. "When you combine that with the history that we're aware of, and the students are aware of, when you combine all that and that these individuals were genuinely in fear, that's why the arrest was made."

He also refuted reports that the pupil was handcuffed from the Faculty and"paraded" out by officials, imagining that she had been handcuffed beyond their faculty for her own security and that of the arresting officer.

"I'll take the heat all day long for arresting a 13-year-old," Donchez stated. "I'm not willing to take the heat for not preventing a school tragedy."

The Westridge Middle School episode isn't the first of its type. A Colorado first-grader was suspended In 2015 for creating a finger gun and telling a classmate"You're dead." In 2014, a 10-year-old at Ohio was also suspended for allegedly pointing a finger gun in another student's mind . In 2018, a Pennsylvania man was found guilty of disorderly behavior For pointing a finger gun in his neighbor. But, this newest Incident seemed to be the very first finger-gun episode to bring about a felony charge.