Police have arrested the father of the 13-year-old boy accused of firing a handgun near a Phoenix elementary school earlier this week.
The man was arrested Monday night on suspicion of possessing a weapon by a prohibited person, Sgt. Trent Crump said Tuesday. Crump said the man was on probation and is suspected of being in the country illegally, both of which prohibits him from possessing a weapon, he said.
Crump did not name the father because it would identify the juvenile, whose name is not made public.
Police said the boy, a suspended student at Maurice C. Cash Elementary School near 38th Avenue and Roeser Road, fired the weapon at about noon Monday. There were no reports of injuries.
The student was suspended Aug. 21 for behavioral issues, officials said. He showed up at the campus on Friday but school personnel were able to get him to leave.
The student returned again Monday afternoon. While waiting for lunch hour, a member of the school approached the teenager.
The boy fired two to four rounds into the air near the school property, forcing a lockdown, police said.
The boy then ran into the back yard of his nearby home, where he was taken into custody by police. Police also found more firearms in the back yard.
Crump said the boy was booked into juvenile detention, facing charges of discharging a firearm and disrupting an educational institution.
