Boy, 13, Surrenders After Gun Fired Into Ceiling at School

A 13-year-old boy accused of climbing onto a cafeteria table and firing a shot into the ceiling during a summer school session surrendered to authorities Tuesday at his grandparents’ house.

No one was injured in the Monday shooting at Dimmitt Middle School, but the boy remained at large after the incident. Classes were canceled Tuesday.

The boy spent Monday night “hunkered down in woods” near his grandparents’ home 10 miles south of Seattle, sheriff’s spokesman John Urquhart said. His mother notified authorities that her son wanted to turn himself in, and he was arrested peacefully.

“Right now it’s every police officer’s nightmare--kids with guns in school,” Urquhart said, noting that the gun was pointed in a girl’s face during the incident. “This worked out OK this time, because they all got out of the building and no one was hurt.”

The boy was booked into a juvenile detention center in Seattle for investigation of assault with a firearm and reckless endangerment, prosecutor’s spokesman Dan Donohoe said.

The suspect also may be charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, Donohoe said. The boy’s initial court hearing was scheduled for today.

The boy led sheriff’s deputies Tuesday to the spot in the woods where he had left the .22-caliber handgun allegedly used Monday, Urquhart said. The handgun was believed to have been taken from the grandparents’ home, he said.

The boy was shown on KIRO-TV walking out of his grandparents’ home in handcuffs, wearing a Detroit Pistons T-shirt. He was described Monday as dressed in black, with blond hair dyed blue at the ends. But Tuesday, his blond hair was cut short with no dying evident.

Urquhart said that when the boy fired into the ceiling he also ordered students to get on the stage in the cafeteria, but they ran.