Oak Harbor police recovered a gun that they believe a North Whidbey Middle School student used to threaten another student at an Oak Harbor coffee shop, according to Chief Kevin Dresker.
Investigators served a search warrant on a household connected to the suspect and recovered a .22-caliber pistol they believe the 14-year-old boy displayed to a student at a Starbucks. Police previously served a search warrant at the boy’s home and didn’t find any weapons.
According to the police report, the suspect allegedly had threatened the victim during school that he would shoot him if he saw him after school. Then on May 25, a group of students went to Starbucks after school to hang out. Once there, the suspect approached the victim, asked him if he wanted to see his gun, lifted his shirt and revealed what appeared to be a handgun, the report states.
The suspect then followed the other boy to McDonald’s and continued to harass him, the report indicates. Afterward, the boy went to a nearby park and allowed another student to play with the gun, the report states.
Dresker previously said that investigators don’t know whether the student brought the gun to school with him that day, given that he had a gun right after school. He told another student that he had stashed the gun outside of the school and picked it up prior to going to the Starbucks.
Police arrested the suspect and a judge set his bail at $1,000.
On June 1, prosecutors charged the suspect in Island County Juvenile Court with stalking, unlawful possession of a firearm and felony harassment. Before the incident, police had sent numerous referrals to the prosecutor’s officeon the student, who’s accused of alleged assaults on other students and bringing a THC vape pen to school. He was also accused of shoplifting spray paint and then spraying graffiti on seven local businesses, court records indicate.
The boy was the third Oak Harbor student in less than a month to be arrested for allegedly making a gun-related threat, according to court documents.
On May 12, a middle school student warned another student in class not to come to classes on Friday the 13th because he was going to shoot up the school. Police arrested the boy but found no evidence of any plans, according to court documents.
On May 24, a 12-year-old boy at Oak Harbor Intermediate School allegedly threatened to bring a gun to school to shoot other students and then himself. Police arrested the boy but were unable to ascertain whether he had access to guns, the police report indicates.
