Shotguns found in cars at Fairfield Jr./Sr. High School

[haldir]

This is a small country school south of Goshen. Just fricking ridiculous...

he students say they left the guns in their cars after a hunting trip over Labor Day weekend. But when they parked on school property, forgetfulness turned into a felony.
Posted: 6:27 PM Sep 9, 2009
Reporter: Ryan Famuliner
Email Address: ryan.famuliner@wndu.com
Shotguns found in cars at Fairfield Jr./Sr. High School

A school resource officer in Elkhart County stumbled upon shotguns in the back of two student's cars Tuesday morning.

It could prove to be a very costly mistake for the Fairfield High School students.

Officials say there really wasn't much of a threat to students in this situation. Police believe 18-year-old Ryan Lenker and an unnamed 17-year-old just left the guns in their cars after a hunting trip over Labor Day weekend.

But when they parked on school property, forgetfulness turned into a felony.

Superintendent Tom Tumey says the school resource officer was doing his regular rounds Tuesday morning and saw cigarettes in the back of a car.

That gave him probable cause to search the vehicle. When the officer asked the student if they’d find anything else in the car, Tumey says the student open told them they'd find the shotgun in the car.

He also told them which of his friends had gone hunting with him, and one of them had a shotgun visible in his backseat.

Lenker was booked in the Elkhart County Jail, while the 17-year-old was taken to the juvenile detention center.

It’s a stance of zero tolerance by police and the school, even though this appears to be an honest mistake.

"I truly believe that but the law's pretty straight forward. There's no firearms on school property and so the proper paperwork has been filed. They've been suspended pending expulsion and the expulsion hearing will take it from there," Tumey said.

Tumey says they also found live ammo in one of the cars, but say it was buckshot, so that's consistent with their hunting story.

Police say Lenker had his probable cause hearing Wednesday morning. Both the students could faces charges of possession of a firearm on school property; a class D felony punishable by up to 3 years in jail.

 

[The Meach]

 

[GetA2J]

I guess that is a great argument for cleaning your hunting gun religiously. If only they had gone out of the woods and into the barn to clean the shotguns.....

 

[jmiller676]

Wow!! Thats the school I graduated from, heard of the kid too but don't know him. This is just great.

 

[JustGone]

See cigarettes gives someone probable cause to search a vehicle?!

 

[haldir]

Poor kids have had their lives ruined for nothing. Back when I was in school no one would have thought a thing about it. And we certainly didn't have cops roaming the parking lot looking in our vehicles.

 

[jmiller676]

I know who the cop is too...

 

[MyGlockRocks19]

Weren't shotguns in the backs of cars and trucks a common sight back in the day?

This is ridiculous, and a glaring example of why "zero tolerance" laws are overbearing. These kids are going to be branded for the rest of their lives, as I don't know if this kind of thing gets expunged when you become an adult, in the case of the 17 year old. And over what? Forgetfulness that harmed no one, and a blatant violation of property rights. How on earth does a pack of cigarettes become probable cause for search?

We're running our public schools like prisons, and wonder why the current crop of students are sullen, rebellious, and unmotivated. I had to suffer through the advent of this "zero tolerance" crap when I was in high school 10 years ago, and the general atmosphere of the school was one where you walked on eggshells...they suspended students for sitting on the grass instead of "designated areas" during lunch....I understand the need for rules, but the punishments and restrictions were way overboard then, and I imagine they've not gotten any better since.

I hope these kids get a good lawyer....they're gonna need one.

 

[joslar15]

Back when I was in high school, 74-78, it was unusual if you didn't see pickup in the faculty or student parking lot without a shotgun or rifle in the rack.

Common sense wasn't quite so uncommon back then.

 

[WWIIIDefender]

These kids now might have a class D felony on thier record and will no longer be able to own a gun and go hunting. This is a shame and our founding fathers would be ashamed of this. This is a sad story.

 

[Viper393]

Sad what we've become as Americans. When I was in school during the mid-80's we ALWAYS had shotguns/.22's in our cars at school from the start of squirrel season to the end of rabbit season. I was even asked by a teacher (who was a big quail hunter) to bring in an old Kettner SXS to his class so he could see it. I ended up taking pictures of it in class for a graphic arts project.

 

[SC_Shooter]

Weren't shotguns in the backs of cars and trucks a common sight back in the day?

Yes. I went to school in SC and almost always had a gun or two hanging in the rack while parked on school property. It simply wasn't a big deal and was actually more normal than not. Sometimes it was because we were heading out hunting after, sometimes we were going to target shoot and sometimes it was just because we pretty much kept a gun or two stored in the car all the time. Most of the time, they were visible.

I know things have changed, but this is a perfect example of why we do not need more laws relating to firearms. It has ALWAYS been illegal to take a gun to school and start shooting the place up. But, because of new laws that will do absolutely nothing to stop school shootings, these youngsters have pretty much screwed themselves.

"No guns on school property" could potentially stop a heat of the moment, impulse shooting but think about all the school shootings we hear about. Has even ONE of them been a heat of the moment impulse shooting? Nope. They all seem to be developments of long-standing plans that have taken weeks or months in preparation. Does a law saying that you can't have your shotgun in the car at school change that sort of thing? Of course not.

I know that the law is the law and has to be followed until it is changed, but this seems like a major life-altering problem for these kids who have caused no harm whatsoever to anyone because of their behavior.

I just love it when people get arrested before they actually do something harmful to another person (they never intended to in the first place), only because "they broke the law." For the most part, laws should address how punishment is meted out to those who hurt other people or their property...not address how to punish people who could possibly hurt someone, but have shown no indication that they want to...much less done anything to cause said harm.

(leaping off the box now)

 

[WWIIIDefender]

Here is another point to show. Back in the day when it was allowed to have a gun in your car at school so you could go hunting afterwards there were no school shootings.

 

[BloodEclipse]

This is a big bunch of crap. The school resource officer needs to be named and publicly shamed. This is abuse of power.
Just because the kid cooperated it got him nothing, and it caused another student to be charged.
If the story was verifiable, a decent human being would have made them take the guns home and end of story. In this case we have to prove we can destroy the lives of two young men who made a mistake.
I hope if this school resource officer ever makes a mistake, he gets his balls nailed to the wall.

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

You guys don't see how this is legally permissable? Have you READ any of your local school's rule book lately?

Cigarettes, at the schools that I am familiar with, if spotted in plain view through a window of the vehicle IS probable cause to search the vehicle because smoking or possession of tobacco is not allowed on school grounds.

When my stepson, now 20 years old, attended Delta High School in Delaware County a few years ago basically (not totally, but to a large extent) signed away his 4th Amendment rights for the privilege of driving to school. There were less reasons that his vehicle COULDN'T be searched for suspected contraband than the amount of rules for why it COULD be searched. There was no parental contact until after a search and seizure was conducted and the search was easily done because a Sheriff's deputy was supplied to the school for the hours that the school was open every day.

While my son had problems in High School, none rose to the level of having his car searched or him being found in possession of any type of contraband. I only know of the rules because of me having to enroll him in school (wife was working) for a few years.

My hope is that the prosecutor realizes what I hope is the truth of the situation, that it was an innocent, stupid mistake, and can work a compromise to satisfy the school's and public's want for punishment vs. ruining a kid's future with firearms.

 

[Ashkelon]

We used to rabbit hunt after school and would leave our guns in the trucks. This was in the 80s in a school where now the parking lot is full of BMWs and if some poor kid even mentions hunting they will be ostracized by the teachers.

 

[GetA2J]

I really think the best the kids could hope for is a plea bargain.
They should plea guilty to a misdameaner and regain their rights to firearms in the future.

 

[GlockRock]

I had a classmate get expelled for the same thing when I was in high school. I graduated in 2000. He had been squirrel hunting for food for his family and left his shotgun in his car. I'm not exactly sure how it got discovered but he ended up getting expelled for a semester.

 

[ATF Consumer]

Yea, the probable cause reason is a bunch of crap...if he is 18, then he is legally allowed to buy cigarettes anyhow. I would think he could fight this in court and get the whole thing overturned, as this would be considered an illegal search and seizure. I wonder how many teachers had cigarettes somewhere inside the building.

 

[RCB]

It is a terrible shame.

This happens to more people than just these two. Laws have become so all encompassing "for our safety" that it will injure us.

Now, when people henceforth use the term felon and criminal... remember you will be talking about these two as well.

They did nothing wrong. Yes, there was a law about it, but it was nothing wrong. People have forgotten that laws are just written by people. And many of them, while good in intent, result in bad situations.

I once heard a lawyer say, hard cases make bad laws. But I refuted that with bad laws make hard cases.

What I don't get, is if they found marijuana in their car... it would be theirs because the car is their property, regardless of why it was there. But, when it's a gun, then the car is ignored.

Absolutely out of control.