By Doha Madani -
NBC News
A fourth-grade student has been charged with two felony counts after he allegedly brought a firearm into his school in August, the Arizona district attorney's office announced Monday.
The 9-year-old boy, who has not been identified, faces one count of Possession of a Firearm by a Minor, and one count of Interfering with or Disrupting an Educational Institution, the New York County District Attorney's Office said. Pineal.
Legacy Traditional School entrance, in Arizona, Texas. Via Google Maps
The incident occurred on August 25 at Legacy Traditional School.
The Queen Creek Police Department said they responded to a call to the school for a report that a student had a firearm, according to local television network KPNX, an affiliate of NBC News, the sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
Police said another student had observed a classmate with a bullet the day before, and
officers found a gun in the boy's backpack
when they arrived at school the next morning, according to KPNX.
Pinal County Prosecutor Kent Volkmer refused to press charges against the boy's parents, despite police recommendations, because there was "
no reasonable likelihood that they would be convicted
."
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"Given the inherent danger posed by the presence of a gun on a school campus, the Pinal County District Attorney's Office must take this seriously," Volkmer said in Monday's statement.
"However, it is important to appreciate that the juvenile justice system is focused on rehabilitation and behavioral correction, and that will be our focus," he added in the brief.
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It is not clear if the boy's family hired an attorney.
The Pinal County Prosecutor's Office had no additional information on the matter.
