Police: Dean of students stepped in front of gun during Minneapolis North High School argument
MINNEAPOLIS – A dean of students at a Twin Cities high school is getting credit for stepping in front of a student armed with a gun to stop an argument.
Deandre Antiown Depratto Jr., 18, is charged with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. He appeared in a Hennepin County courtroom on Friday.
Investigators said in documents filed in his case that Depratto Jr. pulled a gun on another student in early February at Minneapolis North Community High School. According to a criminal complaint, that's when the school's Dean Gurley stepped in. The complaint did not list the dean's first name.
A safety coordinator told police at the school that two students had gotten into a fight over some dice that had fallen out of the victim's pocket. Depratto Jr. then pulled a gun out of his backpack and pointed it at the victim, the criminal complaint said.
Shortly after that, investigators said Dean of Students Gurley "stepped between the two of them and the gun."
According to the complaint, the victim told police that he was "in shock" and that Gurley stood between the two. Police said they found the dean visibly shaken and trying to compose herself after stopping the fight.
She told investigators that Depratto Jr. also pointed the gun at her, and that she feared for their life. According to the complaint, she said the defendant then put down the gun and seemed to "snap out of it."
Depratto Jr. is due back in court on March 27.
