Police Charge 10-Year-Old Boy Who Brought Gun To School

An Idaho Falls mom says her 10-year-old son was too afraid of police to turn in a gun he found at Central Park last Tuesday.

Jayme Abraham said her son Jessie instead kept the handgun in his backpack, until administrators at Dora Erikson Elementary found it on Thursday. Abraham said she was surprised to learn her 10-year-old had stashed the handgun he found in his backpack. She said she wants other parents and the community to know why.

“He doesn’t trust the police,” she said during an interview on Monday. “He’s witnessed people be arrested, he’s just afraid of them.”

Abraham said fear stopped Jessie from telling police he’d found the gun after school on Tuesday.

“I should have as a parent searched his backpack and questioned him further, but I didn’t,” she said.

Abraham works as a pet groomer just a handful of blocks west of Central Park in Idaho Falls. Last week she said Jessie dropped his backpack at her shop after playing kickball with some friends in the park. She didn’t know it, but he’d found a loaded handgun in a pine tree.

“I just want everybody to understand, the gun was loaded in the park, he unloaded it, he didn’t know what else to do,” said Abraham. “I think we need to inform our kids as parents and as the public.”

Jessie later told his mom he didn’t feel comfortable leaving a gun in the park so he picked it up, unloaded it and put it in his bag.

Abraham said her son was waiting to tell his dad about the gun. She said as a parent she wishes Jessie had known it was safe to tell someone else.

“The police, even if they want to call them anonymously, the police are there for our protection,” she said. “There’s no reason to be afraid of them.”

Abraham said she understands District 91’s no-tolerance policy when it comes to guns on campus. Jessie has been suspended for 5 days. Abraham said she is still waiting to decide if Jessie will appeal the suspension.

The Idaho Falls Police Department has charged Jessie with one count of misdemeanor possession of a firearm on school property. The potential sentence is up to 1 year in prison and a $1,000 fine. Because Jessie is a student, the court may recommend probation.