Two accused of bringing gun to high school

Official says 1 student sold stolen firearm, other sought to resell it

Thursday, November 9, 2006

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

Two teenagers were charged Tuesday with having a gun at a Burke County high school last week.

Jimmy Dean Chaney, 16, and a 15-year-old, both students at Burke County Alternative School, face felony charges of possession of a stolen firearm and possession of a firearm on school property, said Capt. Scott Kerley of the Morganton Public Safety Department.

Kerley said a 9 mm handgun was stolen from a vehicle at Southmountain Children and Family Services in Morganton on Oct. 29 and that a teenager on Oct. 31 brought the gun to Freedom High School, where students transfer to buses headed for the alternative high school.

The teenager then sold the gun to the 15-year-old student, who tried selling it to another student at the alternative school last week, Kerley said.

Investigators don't believe the students planned to fire the weapon or harm anyone with it, Kerley said.

"It sounds like this was more of a money-making a venture," he said. "But that doesn't lessen the seriousness of having the gun on campus."

Both students were arrested last week, Kerley said.

Chaney, who has been charged as an adult, was being held at the Catawba-Burke County jail with bond set at $10,000.

Officials at the Department of Juvenile Justice would not say where the 15-year-old was being held.


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