A juvenile at Todd Beamer High School was arrested and booked into juvenile detention June 10 for bringing a “ghost gun” to school.

According to a case report acquired from a public records request to the Federal Way Police Department, a 17-year-old was found to be in possession of a 9mm “ghost gun,” which is a firearm with no serial number and is often not registered. The incident arose when a student called the high school and told school officials that the 17-year-old student was in possession of a firearm and 34 bullets.

The suspected student was not marked as present in his class, but he was reported to be on campus. The school resource officer then located him sitting alongside two other students on a school golf cart.

As the student was being escorted to the office, he walked toward the student parking lot where his black Ford Mustang was parked. At that point, an officer approached the student and requested to frisk him, which the student allowed, but he refused to let the officer search his blue Nike Elite backpack. When the officer insisted on checking the backpack due to the report of a firearm, the student resisted and attempted to pull away.

After approximately 30 minutes of talking and de-escalation attempts, the student finally placed the backpack on a table. Upon searching, a non-serialized black handgun with a blue trigger and a black extended magazine were found inside. Some bullets fell out of the magazine due to a faulty baseplate. The firearm was loaded with a bullet in the chamber, and 32 additional bullets were recovered, according to police.

The student was arrested and transported to the Federal Way Police Department and later to the King County Youth Detention Center. He was charged with possession of a firearm (second degree) and possession of a dangerous weapon on school grounds. At the police station, the arresting officer searched his backpack further and found a bottle of tequila. The officer said that he smelled alcohol on the student, but he did not show signs of impairment.

The student’s mother was contacted, and she stated that he mentioned that people were threatening to steal his chains.

According to Federal Way Public Schools spokesperson Whitney Chiang, the district has no reason to believe this incident was related to a mass shooting, although they encouraged The Mirror to reach out to the Federal Way Police Department throughout the investigation to understand the students’ reasoning for bringing a firearm to school.

“As action was taken swiftly by both Federal Way Public Schools and the Federal Way Police Department, this incident was handled with no disruption to the school day,” Chiang said. “Federal Way Public Schools has a strict policy regarding weapons in alignment with state law. Firearms are forbidden on our school campuses at any time, regardless of intent, and any student in possession of a weapon is disciplined in accordance with policy and the law.”