A 16-year-old admitted to bringing a loaded gun to his high school in St. Paul this week, authorities say.
St. Paul police officers responded to Jennings Community School, formerly Jennings Experiential High School, on University Avenue around 10 a.m. Monday on a report that a student at the school might be carrying a firearm, according to a juvenile petition filed in Ramsey County District Court.
Officers spoke with a staff member who reported that two students told her that Jarquise Dovanta Brown-Williams — one of their 16-year-old male classmates — had brought a gun into the building, according to the juvenile petition that charged the teen with felony-level weapons possession.
The staff member then showed them a photograph from the social media app Snapchat that appeared to show Brown-Williams holding a gun in a school bathroom, the charging document said.
Brown-Williams was brought into the dean’s office and searched by officers. A loaded 9-mm handgun was found in his shorts’ pocket, the petition said.
Brown told officers that he got the gun from someone on his way to school that day, but added that “he (couldn’t) say too much … (or) say somebody’s name,” according to the charges.
The teen reportedly smelled “strongly of marijuana” at the time, and told officers that he smoked it earlier that morning.
Brown-Williams pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a dangerous weapon on school property shortly after he was charged Tuesday, court records say.
He is being held in the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center pending what amounts to the sentencing hearing in the juvenile case, which is scheduled to take place Oct. 21.
Jennings Community School is a grades 7-12 charter school in St. Paul that educates about 80 students, according to the director of the school, Bill Zimniewicz.
Noting that the state’s data privacy act prevents him from discussing individual students, Zimniewicz said federal law requires any student who brings a firearm or other dangerous weapon to school to be expelled.
The school’s board plans to discuss disciplinary action stemming from the incident at its meeting next week, Zimniewicz said, adding that members will also discuss at that time whether staff should schedule organization conversations with the student body about what happened.
He said a letter went home to parents about the incident Monday night, adding that it saddens him that schools are confronted with this issue.
“All schools, whether public schools, private schools, charter schools, it doesn’t matter, safety is the utmost objective or goal,” he said. “We want to ensure people’s safety and we do our best to do so. … It’s just kind of a sad reality in our modern world where guns are so readily available.”
Zimniewicz added that staff responded to the incident “calmly, professionally, respectfully and safely.”
Neither the guardian listed for Brown-Williams’ in his juvenile complaint nor his public defender could be immediately reached for comment.
