A 15-year-old student was detained in a school parking lot due to the possession of a loaded firearm

At Eel River Community School around 9 a.m. a 15-year-old student was detained in the school parking lot due to the possession of a loaded firearm. The student was taken into custody immediately. The firearm and ammunition were located in the student’s backpack. 

“As soon as he got out of the car we were able to identify him using our school resource officer,” said Casey Day, the Chief of Police in Fortuna. “We had previous contacts with this particular juvenile. This department arrested the same juvenile back in February of 2023 on charges of attempted murder and attempted robbery.”

The school and a nearby elementary school were also put on lockdown at the time. The 15-year-old was booked into the Humboldt County Juvenile Hall on eight felony violations. He has a court appearance in October for the charges made against him in February. Today’s incident is up to the court. 

“That’s part of our ongoing investigation at this point, as is how the juvenile came to acquire the firearm,” Chief Day said. “I will say, in addition, that our investigators did a rollover search of the location where the juvenile had been staying and we also recovered an additional firearm, a .22 caliber rifle.”

Chief Day shared how he feels about today’s incident.

“Sick, it makes me sick to my stomach that we are dealing with a set of, you know, issues throughout this nation and specifically here in California,” Chief Day said. “Where when somebody is arrested for attempted homicide or attempted robbery or some other serious egregious crime that we don’t have the teeth to hold them in custody.” 

Today’s incident is an ongoing investigation.