13-year-old Spanaway boy charged with assault for allegedly pointing rifle at students

TACOMA -- A 13-year-old boy pleaded not guilty in Juvenile Court Thursday to charges that he pointed a rifle at two junior high students in Spanaway and sold stolen weapons to fellow students.

The boy was formally charged Thursday with two counts of second-degree assault, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm and trafficking in stolen property.

He is being held in Juvenile Detention at Remann Hall.

Q13 FOX News is not naming the boy because he is a minor and charged as a juvenile.

On Wednesday, two students at Cedarcrest Junior High School in Spanaway said they were waiting at their bus stop when the noticed the boy standing in a nearby yard and pointing a rifle at them. The students fled and went to another bus stop.

When the students got to school, they told Cedarcrest officials what had happened and the boy was summoned to the administrative offices. He fled when confronted about the rifle, but officials persuaded him to return and they called police.

The Pierce County Prosecutor's Office said the boy admitted to having the rifle and told deputies where they could find it. Deputies found the .22 caliber rifle and a backpack containing a large amount of ammunition.

The boy's grandfather told deputies the rifle was stolen from his gun safe, and noted that two other guns and ammunition were missing. In the boy's room, the prosecutor's office said, deputies found the stolen key for the gun safe and more ammunition.

The prosecutor's office said the boy told deputies he sold the two missing guns to fellow students -- one for vaping paraphernalia and the other for $120 in cash, an ounce of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

The sheriff's department is investigating the missing firearms.