Teens in court after incident at Dayton school

Dayton police are investigating after three teen males, at least one armed with a BB gun, entered the front doors of Wright Bros. school on Huffman Avenue in Dayton Wednesday. The school principal chased the teens out of the building and police captured them near Smithville and Gummer Avenues.

• Three teen males entered Dayton Wright Bros. K-8 school just after 1 p.m.
• Parents were in school attending musical
• The school went in to lockdown immediately
• The principal chased the teens, one with BB gun, out of the school

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UPDATE @ 2:28 p.m. (May 12)

Three boys appeared in juvenile court today after allegedly entering Wright Brothers school in Dayton with a BB gun Wednesday.

Two boys are brothers, ages 11 and 13. A “denial” plea was entered on the brothers’ behalf.

The brothers and a third boy will remain in juvenile detention until their next hearing May 23.

One boy asked the judge today, “We’re not gonna get out?”

Judge Nick Kuntz said the weapon was “indistinguishable” from actual firearm.

Family members of the young boys were in the courtroom today but declined any comment.

UPDATE @ 1:22 p.m. (May 12)

Two brothers and another male juvenile are accused of entering a Dayton elementary school yesterday and one of them was suspected of being armed with a BB-gun, according to the Montgomery County Juvenile Court.

The charges being considered for the juveniles are inducing panic, criminal trespassing and a weapon charge. The three juveniles are expected to appear in court at 1:30 p.m.

News Center 7 reporter Andy Sedlak will be in the courtroom.

FIRST REPORT (May 11)

Police apprehended the trio, who were not students of the school, near Smithville and Gummer Avenues a half-mile to the east. No shots were fired and no one was injured, according to Dayton Police.

The incident comes five days after a second-grader was stabbed on the playground of Dayton’s World of Wonder school.

“It’s been a tough week,” school board President Adil Baguirov said.

The official statement from the district did not explain how the teens got into the building, saying DPS is “still gathering facts (and) working to complete the investigation.”

But Baguirov said later Wednesday that the three suspects waited until a parent came out of the doors, and then slipped into the otherwise locked building.

The 911 caller from the school said that Principal Shawna Welch chased the trio out of the building on foot while staying in radio contact with the office. The 911 call was made at 1:15 p.m. and Dayton police reported having the trio in custody at 1:30.

School officials didn’t answer questions about security officer staffing at Wright Brothers.

Mindy Hoskins, a parent of a kindergartener and second grader at Wright Brothers, was attending a musical performance in the auditorium when she noticed teachers rush to lock the auditorium doors. Wright Brothers and nearby Kemp Elementary were both put on lockdown.

Hoskins said when she first entered the school Wednesday, the doors were locked and she had to be buzzed in by the secretary through the school office. She praised teachers for their quick action.

“I’m so glad to know these teachers went through training for situations just like this and their training paid off,” she said. “It’s hard to let your kids go anywhere these days. I don’t want to live in fear, I just pray to God he will keep them safe.”

Dayton Police Lt. Mark Ponichtera said the teens brought a BB gun that “looked exactly like a real firearm” into the school. He said they dumped or hid the gun as they left the school, then told police where it was after they were caught.

Nearby residents said police recovered a weapon near bushes on the Wright Ave. side of the school.

Ponichtera said the teens were in custody on counts of illegal possession of a deadly weapon in a school safety zone (because the gun was indistinguishable from a true firearm), plus criminal trespass and inducing panic.

Baguirov commended Welch and her staff for their quick response, saying their use of radios was so effective the district may look at adding more radios to all schools.

“We’re doing absolutely everything possible,” Baguirov said. “This story is about prevention. Today we were able to prevent anything from happening.”

But Lisa Collier, who lives across the street from Wright Brothers and has a 5-year-old daughter at the school, said her family plans to move.

“We are at that point of definitely not wanting to send her back,” Collier said. “We’re really scared. She was petrified.”

WHIO-TV reporter Kate Bartley contributed to this report.