Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Teen Held on $1M Bail for Bringing Loaded Gun Into High School

By Nicholas Rizzi | May 4, 2017 9:46am
 Erik Morris and O'Brien Ballenger were arrested after they brought guns into Curtis High School.
Erik Morris and O'Brien Ballenger were arrested after they brought guns into Curtis High School.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi

ST. GEORGE — A teen got hit with $1 million bail from a judge after he brought a stolen handgun into Curtis High School, officials said.

Erik Morris, 18, and O'Brien Ballenger, 16, were found with loaded guns in their book bags inside the Hamilton Avenue school Monday at about 1:22 p.m., according to police and prosecutors.

Morris brought a stolen .40 caliber handgun with two rounds in the magazine and Ballenger a .22 long rifle with three rounds to the school, police said.

No one was injured and the pair were arrested inside the school.

Morris was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds and criminal possession of a firearm at his Tuesday arraignment, the Staten Island District Attorney's office said.

Prosecutors requested he be held without bail but Judge Raja Rajeswari set it to $1 million, a spokesman for the DA said.

Morris had been arrested in March for robbery and in April for gun possession outside the Staten Island Mall, prosecutors said.

Ballenger was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds and criminal possession of a firearm, the DA said. His bail was set at $100,000.