Father arrested after son allegedly takes loaded gun to school

The father of a teenager who brought a loaded gun to school in Chula Vista has been arrested on suspicion of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Zacharia Dow, 36, was arrested this evening, several hours after his 14-year-old son’s arrest.

The boy, a ninth-grade student at Hilltop High School, had a loaded .44-caliber gun in his backpack and had told other students that he might use it, police said.

A search of the family home found a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol under a bed, police said. The search is continuing for any additional weapons and “any evidence indicating a motive” for the teen to take a gun to school.

Dow is also under investigation for a possible charge of allowing a minor to have access to a weapon, police said. He was arrested without incident, police said.