Hastings teen who brought gun to school pleads guilty

A 15-year-old boy who brought a gun to Hastings Middle School in April and threatened students and staff with it has pleaded guilty.

The boy, who was an eighth-grader at the school, on Monday was placed in a long-term program at the Juvenile Detention Center and will later be placed in a long-term residential treatment facility. He pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree assault.

The boy brought the gun to school on April 5. He pointed it at three adults and broke into several classrooms after the school was placed under a lockdown.

Prosecutors have said the teen tried to fire the weapon but that it malfunctioned because it had the wrong kind of ammunition.

Besides being ordered into juvenile detention and residential treatment, the boy was ordered to write apologies to the victims and have no contact with them. The judge also ordered him to cooperate with individual and family therapy and with mental health services.

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