MOUNT HEALTHY, Ohio (AP) — A 14-year-old student fired a shot into the ceiling of a classroom at a suburban Cincinnati junior high school and was arrested Monday, police said. No injuries were reported.
Kevin Harley, an eighth-grader at Mount Healthy North Junior High, brought the gun to school and fired the shot, Springfield Township police said.
Michael Webb, a township police officer assigned to the school as a resource officer, persuaded Harley to surrender the .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun.
Webb said the boy was visibly distraught during their 25-minute discussion.
"He eventually put the gun on a desk and walked away from it and put his hands behind his head," he said.
Harley was charged with inducing panic, carrying a concealed weapon, discharging a firearm into a school, abduction, theft and felonious assault, police Sgt. Scott Middendorf said.
Police would not discuss a motive, saying only that the teen planned his actions and did not intend to hurt any other students. He took the gun from relatives, who were unaware that it was missing, officials said.
Harley was confined in the Hamilton County Juvenile Court's detention unit to await a hearing, police said.
Up to 300 parents gathered in the school Monday night to meet with school officials about the incident.
Some parents complained that only the parents of students in the classroom where the shot was fired were notified about the incident. They said they want to be involved in plans for improved school safety, which the district says will happen.
"This is a safe environment," said school principal Eugene Blalock. "We tell our students not to be afraid to speak up if they hear or see something."
Dawn Drayton of Springfield Township, who has a seventh-grader at the school, was still worried.
"What's it going to take? We see this every day. I can't go through this again," she said. "I can't afford to put my son in a private school. Something has to be done."