Ohio Boy, 12, Holds Class at Gunpoint; No One Hurt

A 12-year-old who told authorities he wanted to be with his mother in jail held his sixth-grade class at gunpoint Thursday before a teacher persuaded him to give up the weapon.

No one was hurt and no charges were immediately filed against the boy, who was taken into custody.

The boy said “his biological mother was in jail and he wanted to visit her, be with her,” said Anthony Krukowski, superintendent of Lisbon schools.

The boy’s father told police the weapon--a loaded 9-millimeter semiautomatic--had been stored on a dresser top with a fully engaged trigger lock.

Police Chief John Higgins, who would not disclose the boy’s name because he is a juvenile, said the boy apparently found the key and removed the trigger lock.

He said the boy’s mother is serving a drug-related sentence in a state prison in Marysville, about 150 miles away. Lisbon is 25 miles south of Youngstown in the northeastern part of the state.

About 8:45 a.m., the boy stood up in his classroom at McKinley Elementary School, pointed the gun at the floor and told his fellow students and teacher to get down, Higgins and Krukowski said.

“It seemed like forever we were sitting on the ground. It was probably a few minutes,” said the teacher, Dan Kemats, 24.

A student who was in the hall outside overheard the exchange and summoned another teacher, Linda Robb, Krukowski said.

Robb stood in the doorway of the classroom and asked the boy if she could talk to him. The two walked out into the hallway and hugged, and the boy handed the gun over to Robb, police said.

Sixth-graders were sent home, but the other students were kept in class because the district didn’t want younger children going home without making sure their parents knew, Krukowski said.

There will be no classes today, but the school will be open for student counseling, he said.