Cheltenham HS student arrested at football game had loaded ghost gun, police say
ABINGTON, Pa. - Abington Township Police described the arrest of a teen they say brought a loaded ghost gun to a football game Friday night.
"This is more rounds than the police officers carry," Abington Township Police Detective Lieutenant Steven Fink said on Monday.
He said, if the 17-year-old boy that they say had a handgun, pulled the trigger Friday night, he could have done a lot of damage.
"It's a 30-round high-capacity magazine. It's with another high-capacity magazine. Thirty-one rounds with one in the chamber," Fink said.
Fink added parts of the gun had no serial number. So, investigators consider the weapon a ghost gun.
Officers said the boy was a Cheltenham High School student. His school was playing football at Abington Senior High School. Then, police say a mother flagged authorities saying she saw the boy with a gun in his waistband.
School Resource Officer Jordan Jones said police found the boy by the fence near the north end of the stadium.
"As soon as I put my hand on his shoulder, he ducked down and reached for his waistband, at which point, me and Officer [Joe] Marrero grabbed the gentleman that we recovered the weapon from and took him to the ground," Jones said.
Marerro said teamwork helped keep everyone safe even after the teen was in handcuffs.
"You didn't have a crowd stampeding out of there when we took this male into custody," a law enforcement official said.
Police said they arrested the teen during halftime. School officials suspended the game during the third quarter.
Josiah Gomez is 12 years old and goes to a charter school not related to the game. He said he is worried about guns being brought to school and school events.
"I think it's really scary to not know what's going on," Gomez said. "And I think when you go to games, you just have fun. You shouldn't bring any weapons to fight or anything."
The teen police say that had the gun is still in custody. He is facing weapons charges. A second teen who was with him was not charged. No one was hurt.
The Cheltenham School District will have a town hall meeting about the incident Monday at 6 p.m. in The Little Theatre. Families can find the entrance near the back of the school.