Mother Charged After Teenage Son Takes Loaded Gun To School
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Four misdemeanor charges have been filed against the mother of a 17-year-old student who took a loaded handgun to Will Rogers High School in Van Nuys, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said Wednesday.
Leah Wilcken, 41, was charged with allowing a child to take a firearm off-premises, allowing the child to take the gun to school, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and allowing a child to be endangered.
The case is the first of its kind for his office, Feuer said.
"Guns have no place in or around our schools," Feuer said. "Our office will continue to take aggressive action to protect our kids, and I call on parents to prevent potentially devastating consequences by safely storing every firearm they own."
Police say Wilcken's son took a fully loaded .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun and a seven-round magazine to Will Rogers High School on May 13. School police found the gun and ammunition in the student's backpack.
During the investigation, Wilcken refused to help officers determine if her son had brought one of her guns with him to school, officials said.
LAPD officers searched Wilcken's home the next day and found a shotgun and four more handguns that were not locked up nor properly stored, including one weapon that was in a kitchen cabinet under the sink, authorities said.
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
