Paint Branch High student charged with having gun on campus

Incident occurred Tuesday at Burtonsville school, police say

May 22, 2024 5:36 p.m.

Editor’s Note: This article, originally published at 1:36 p.m. on May 22, 2024, was updated at 5:30 p.m. on May 22, 2024, to include details from a community letter about the incident from Paint Branch Acting Principal Pamela Krawczel.

A 16-year-old Paint Branch High School student is facing gun charges after he was found Tuesday in possession of a weapon at school, according to Montgomery County police.

The incident comes after a handful of schools in the county received “swatting” calls and other threats last week that led to Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School being placed in lockdown on Thursday and Walt Whitman High School to evacuate students and Bethesda Elementary School briefly going on lockdown on Friday.

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The Paint Branch student was charged as an adult with possession of a dangerous deadly weapon on school property, possession of a handgun, underage possession of a firearm and other related charges, police said Wednesday in a statement.

It is MoCo360’s policy not to publish the names of juveniles charged with crimes.

At approximately 10 a.m. Tuesday, a teacher reported to school security that they saw “what appeared to be a student with a weapon in his waistband,” according to a community letter from Acting Principal Pamela Krawczel.

At about 10:13 a.m. Tuesday, officers with the police department’s community engagement program responded to the school in the 14100 block of Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville, police said.

Krawczel wrote that the student was escorted out of the classroom to conduct a “self-search” in which a firearm was found.

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According to police, the firearm was a Smith and Wesson handgun.

Though the police said the gun was not loaded and the teen did not threaten other students, the principal’s letter said the firearm was loaded. In addition, the letter said the gun was found with ammunition that did not match the weapon.

Krawczel said the incident caused “no disruption to the school day” and noted that “staff remained vigilant and dedicated to ensuring the safety of all students and staff in the building.”

According to the police statement, the teen was charged as an adult “based on the information provided and evidence of the gun.”

The teen is awaiting a bond hearing after he was transported to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit, police said.

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Attorney information for the teen was not available Wednesday afternoon.

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