Man Charged After Son, 7, Takes Loaded Gun to School

A local man has been jailed for child endangerment and improper storage of a firearm after his 7-year-old stepson took a loaded handgun to school, the district attorney’s office said.

Mario Gutierrez, 30, pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to a year in jail. He was placed on five years’ formal probation by Superior Commissioner Wade Olson, who also ordered Gutierrez to attend firearm training and parents’ classes.

Gutierrez was arrested and charged June 1 after his stepson took a .25-caliber handgun to La Primaria Elementary School in El Monte. The weapon was found in the first-grader’s desk after a teacher learned from other students that the boy had been showing off the gun during recess, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

The boy had found the gun under a mattress in his home and took it to school in his backpack, Gibbons said.

“You don’t leave guns around where children can find them and take them to school,” said Gibbons. “This is an effort to reduce violence and it’s an issue that effects the whole community.”