Police were called to PS 40 in Queens yesterday afternoon after an 11-year-old fifth grader flashed a loaded .38 caliber handgun in front of classmates. The gun, which had one bullet in it, had gone undetected for hours until the boy started showing it off. Officials say it had one round in the clip. Fortunately, a school safety agent confiscated the firearm before it could be discharged.
The boy's grandfather, 54-year-old Kenneth Miley, was subsequently arrested after police determined that the gun was taken from his home, located a couple blocks from the Jamaica school. Sources tell the Daily News that the boy found the gun under Miley's bed, and the Post reports that he brought the gun to school one day after an unspecified "confrontation" with classmates. (ABC 7 reports that the boy found the gun between couch cushions.)
“It scary, my heart’s beating just hearing about it," one kindergarten mother told the News. "A fifth-grader? Wow. It's shocking. He just brought it to class? It was just somewhere out in the open where he could get it?”
Miley was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, endangering the welfare of a child, and reckless endangerment. But his attorney insists "the gun doesn’t belong to my client. He found it in the backyard." Miley intended to bring the firearm to the local police precinct stationhouse, the lawyer claims.
"This is incredibly disturbing and nothing is more important than the safety of all students and staff," the NYC Education Department said in a statement. "School staff immediately notified NYPD and they swiftly responded. Families were notified yesterday and additional staff is available to the school community to provide ongoing support. We will continue to work closely with the police department as they investigate this alarming incident, and ensure that all students and staff feel safe."
A spokesman for Mayor de Blasio, who is considering a plan to remove hundreds of metal detectors from NYC public schools, issued a statement saying, "The mayor is committed to the safety of all our students and educators. He believes that we must look closely at school safety data and determine a clear protocol before examining the removal of scanners." There are no scanners at elementary schools like PS 40.
