Cleveland student tries to snatch gun from high school security officer
CLEVELAND, Ohio May 14 2017 — A Cleveland high school student was arrested this week after he brought a gun into school and then tried to wrestle it away from a security officer who had confiscated it, police say.
Chaumar McDowell, 18, is charged with second-degree robbery in the incident that happened about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at John F. Kennedy High School on Harvard Avenue in the city’s Lee-Miles neighborhood.
An unarmed security guard spotted a .380-caliber gun in McDowell’s backpack when he put it through the school’s X-ray conveyor belt, according to a Cleveland police report.
The security officer leaned forward and tried to grab the bag so that McDowell wouldn’t be able to snatch it from her, the report says. McDowell closed in as the security guard reached for it, and tried to take the bag from her, the report says.
The security officerd backed up near a security office and McDowell again tried to grab the bag from her, the report says. She managed to toss the backpack inside the office and closed the door so he couldn’t continue reaching for it, the report says.
McDowell ran outside and tried to enter his car, but instead returned to the building where he was detained.
Security guards later searched the car and found a plastic bag containing bullets, a BB gun, and a plastic mask, the report says.
McDowell told investigators he carried the gun for protection and forgot that it was in his bag, the report says.
He appeared for arraignment Friday at Cleveland Municipal Court, where a judge set his bond at $25,000 and bound his case over to a Cuyahoga County grand jury.
McDowell has no criminal history in the city.
cleveland.com
