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Third Teenager Brings Gun to School in Seven Days, Police Say

By  Rachel Holliday Smith and Aidan Gardiner | March 23, 2016 12:08pm 

 He carried a 9 mm semiautomatic gun into M.S. 61 Tuesday morning, police said.
He carried a 9 mm semiautomatic gun into M.S. 61 Tuesday morning, police said.
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Dnainfo/Rachel Holliday Smith

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS— A 14-year-old boy who wanted protection from older kids brought a handgun and two clips of live ammunition to his Prospect-Lefferts Gardens middle school Tuesday, the third student to do so in seven days, police and sources said.

The boy, whose name was not released because he's being charged as a juvenile, carried the 9 mm semiautomatic handgun into M.S. 61 Dr. Gladstone H. Atwell Middle School, at 400 Empire Ave., Tuesday, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

The boy, who hoped to protect himself from older kids who don't attend M.S. 61, told another student about the gun, sources said. That student then told the principal who summoned the 14-year-old to the office, sources said.

Once the boy showed the principal the gun and two clips full of nine bullets each, police came and arrested the student, sources said.

Police charged the teen with bringing a gun to school and possessing a loaded gun, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

"This is profoundly disturbing and we are working in close partnership with NYPD to investigate this incident," Department of Education spokeswoman Toya Holness said.

"There is zero tolerance for weapons of any kind and nothing is more important than the safety of all students and staff."

Crime at city schools dropped by 29 percent between the 2011-12 and 2014-15 school years, schools officials said.

The 14-year-old is the third boy bring a gun to school in seven days, police said.

First, an 11-year-old brought a Hi-Point 380 semiautomatic pistol with a single bullet to P.S. 40 at 109-20 Union Hall in Jamaica on March 15, police said. His grandfather was arrested for criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child and unauthorized possession of a pistol, prosecutors said.

Two days later, a 15-year-old boy was suspected of bringing a loaded .38-caliber revolver to York Early College Academy at 108-35 167th St. in Jamaica on March 17, police said. He was not immediately arrested, police said at the time.