COLUMBUS – Police responded to two reports of guns on school property in Columbus yesterday, which resulted in a teenager and a 32-year-old woman facing criminal charges.
A 16-year-old boy was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and conveying a firearm into a school zone after he brought a handgun loaded with 29 rounds of ammunition into Life Skills Center Southeast, 2400 S. Hamilton Road at approximately 10:15 a.m., according to detectives with the Columbus police Gun Crimes Unit.
School security staff detained the student after staff using a metal detector wand located the gun inside the front waistband of the student’s pants with an extended magazine of 29 live rounds of ammunition, police said.
The juvenile was taken into custody and admitted to possessing the handgun.
At 3:23 p.m. officers responded to Weinland Park Elementary School, where a caller reported that a woman was outside with a gun and was going to shoot someone, Det. Vaughan Spencer of the Gun Crimes Unit said.
When the officers arrived, the school’s principal pointed out Shantel Mayle, 32, in a Chevrolet Suburban which was parked on school grounds.
Mayle rolled up her car window and refused to speak with the officers, who removed her from the vehicle and detained her.
The officers then found a loaded .25-caliber pistol in the SUV’s center console.
Mayle is prohibited from possessing a firearm because she was convicted of a felony, Spencer said.
She was charged with improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, a felony.
The investigation continues and Spencer says more charges may follow.