13-year-old boy arrested after being found with handgun in West Baltimore

BALTIMORE -- A 13-year-old boy was arrested Saturday after being found with a handgun in West Baltimore. 

Police said that around 8:48 p.m. on November 16, officers were conducting an investigation in the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, where they found the boy with a loaded gun. 

The boy is known to police due to three previous arrests for robbery, police said. He was taken to the juvenile justice facility, where he was charged. 

The prevalence of juvenile crime has been a persistent concern in Baltimore. In November, changes to Maryland's juvenile justice laws took effect as part of the Juvenile Justice Reform Act.

Those changes extended the time limits on juvenile probation and increased the maximum initial probation period for a felony offense from one year to two years. 

The act also made it possible for children 10 to 12 to be charged with illegal gun possession, auto theft, harming animals, and sex offenses.