Student Charged With Attempted Murder After Allegedly Bringing Gun to Ohio School: Reports

A police car in a file photo. Mira Oberman/AFP/Getty Images

An 18-year-old student from Ohio is facing multiple charges, including attempted aggravated murder, after he allegedly brought a gun to a high school, according to multiple reports.

Brandon Morrissette, at West Geauga High School in Chesterland, Ohio, was found with a 9mm handgun and three fully-loaded magazines in his bag on April 3, according to a complaint filed by the Township of Chester in Chardon Municipal Court on April 4, per NBC affiliate WKYC.

Police also found he was carrying a lock blade-style knife on the outside of his pants.

Police made the findings after another student told the school’s resource officer that he found a 9mm bullet in the male restrooms at the school earlier that day, the outlet reported.

Following the find, school officials reviewed surveillance footage and interviewed people who had entered the restroom to figure out how the bullet got there. Nearly 20 students were interviewed, one of whom was Morrissette, who was interviewed around 9 a.m., reported ABC affiliate WEWS. Police then determined Morrissette was the suspect.

After police officers found Morrissette’s weapons on April 3, he admitted that he'd planned to use the gun to shoot multiple students at the school that day, Chester Township Police Chief Craig Young told reporters at a press conference on April 5.

Morrissette was arrested on April 3, and on the same day, after a brief shelter-in-place as more police arrived on the scene, West Geauga Schools Superintendent Richard Markwardt decided to lock down the school out of an abundance of caution, sending students home for the rest of the day, according to local reports.

Afterwards, police officers carried out two security sweeps of the school and found nothing of concern, reported the Geauga County Maple Leaf.

According to the court records, Morrissette was charged on April 4 with attempted aggravated murder, as well as illegal possession of a deadly weapon in a school safety zone, and inducing panic. The charges are a first-degree felony, a fifth-degree felony, and a first-degree misdemeanor, respectively, local media reported citing court records.

Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz and police said they searched Morrissette’s home in Lyndhurst on April 4 via a search warrant, and confiscated multiple items, including “a ton of electronic evidence,” reported Fox8. Flaiz added that so far, “there are no specific targets and when [Morrissette] gave information to the police, he did not mention any specific students.”

Police took Morrissette to a nearby hospital and he was later moved to a secure mental health facility. Once Morrissette is released from the hospital, he will be remanded back into police custody and transferred to the Geauga County Safety Center, where he will await arraignment, according to WEWS.

Mother Expresses Concern Over Authorities’ Response

Chester resident April Orloski, who said her son was the one who found the 9mm bullet in the school restroom, criticized authorities’ response to the discovery during a West Geauga Schools Board of Education meeting the evening of the near-shooting, reported the Geauga County Maple Leaf.

“My [son] found a bullet halfway through first period,” she said. “He alerted the resource officer and the office staff as he was supposed to do. My [son] was then sent back to the class and informed his teacher why he was gone for so long … which the entire class, including the student with the gun, overheard—making my child a target.”

Orloski added that her son was taken out of class to answer more questions and later was sent back to the class. She told the board: “The shelter-in-place did not occur until halfway through the third period, almost two complete periods later.

“Why was my child sent back to class after finding the bullet, making him a target?” she asked. ”What if the student with the gun had an accomplice who was not in that classroom and was notified of my son’s discovery?”

Young told the Geauga County Maple Leaf that police weren’t initially aware of Morrissette’s identity.

“Just because you find something in a bathroom doesn’t mean you immediately know who that person is. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy,” Young told the outlet.

“It is impossible for law enforcement to just know who left an item until they investigate who was actually in and out of the bathroom. We have to investigate that appropriately, meaning there’s a lot of work that goes into determining who could have left an item such as that.”

On April 4, all West Geauga schools were closed due to a threatening post on Snapchat late on April 3, reported CBS affiliate WOIO. Classes resumed the following day.