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Kent County prosecutor announces charges after student brings gun to school

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Kent County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Becker says the 32-year-old mother of a 7-year-old student who brought a gun to Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School on May 3 has been charged with one misdemeanor count of child abuse in the fourth degree.

And the mother's live-in fiance, Chelsea Berkley, has been charged with Felon in Possession of a Firearm. That is a five-year felony.

"One individual brought the gun into the home, and the other individual was the one who put the gun in a place accessible to the child who brought it to Cesar Chavez Elementary," Becker said at a joint news conference with Police Chief Eric Winstrom at Grand Rapids Police Headquarters on Tuesday afternoon.

The news conference was livestreamed by woodtv.com.

After the incident at Cesar Chavez Elementary, police held a news conference urging parents to keep their guns locked up. A week later, a student brought a loaded gun to Stocking Elementary School last week. Chief Winstrom says he has more than two decades in law enforcement, but has never seen anything like it.

"I will say this is the first time and, now, the second time that I've ever encountered a child that small having a gun in school. It was new to me, and to see it twice in a one-week period was very alarming. I don't think there's any connection between those two (incidents), but just the coincidence and how alarming it was that everyone knew the week before this case ... how outrageous it was that a seven-year-old would have a gun. And, then, to see an 8-year-old walked into school with a loaded gun shortly thereafter was astounding."

Winstrom was asked by a reporter if the charges brought in the case related to the incident at Chavez Elementary would serve notice to parents about the importance of being vigilant about gun safety.

"Yeah, absolutely. It sends a message that parents will be held accountable. You know, we're talking about victims here. A seven-year-old victim and an eight-year-old victim; especially, in the case of an eight-year-old. That was a semi-automatic handgun that was fully loaded with a round in the chamber. So, if that gun was manipulated - even through the bag - it could've gone off and killed a child," Winstrom said.

The Grand Rapids Police provided more information in a news release. Below is a portion of that:

It was reported to school officials by another student. The gun was quickly recovered by Grand Rapids Public School security officials and turned over to GRPD for investigation.

In a news conference on May 3, Chief Winstrom said that GRPD considered the student to be a victim, and that the department would be investigating the home situation that allowed the child access to the weapon.

Today, following that investigation, charges were announced for two individuals:

  • The child’s mother, Aubrey Wilson, aged 32, has been charged with Child Abuse, 4th Degree, a misdemeanor.
  • The mother’s fiancée, Chelsea Berkley, aged 29, has been charged with Felon in Possession of a Firearm, a felony. She is currently in the custody of the Kent County Correctional Facility on unrelated charges.

“Getting illegally possessed weapons off our streets is critical to our children’s safety,” said Chief Winstrom. “Keeping legally possessed guns secure and out of the hands of kids is critical to our children’s safety. We, together as a community, all have a role to play in keeping our children safe.”

“This demonstrates the seriousness with which we take these cases,” said Prosecutor Becker. “When I say ‘we’, that being GRPD and the Prosecutor’s Office or any other law enforcement in Kent County, we are going to investigate and follow up with anything that we can do to make sure these guns are kept out of the hands of kids and out of the schools.”

Free trigger locks are available at GRPD’s headquarters. [Photo screenshot courtesy of woodtv.com > Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker]

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