Cops: Student Had Shotgun in Car

A 17-year-old senior has been arrested after blabbing that he had a shotgun inside a car parked in the school lot, according to authorities.

Superintendent J. Richard Boyes, Ed.D., said that shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday morning a school security officer overheard the student tell another student about the shotgun.

The security officer went out to the car and saw it in plain view through the car's window, Boyes said. said they received at call at 9:49 a.m. from the school's director of security. The security officer stayed with the Jeep Wrangler until police arrived and saw the .20 gauge single shot Stoeger shotgun on the floor of the vehicle.

The police questioned the student and took him away.

“I've since learned that the weapon was not loaded and there was no ammunition in the vehicle," Boyes said. "There was no threat to any students that was made at any time.”

The student was charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Southampton Village Justice Barbara Wilson remanded him to the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverside in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Boyes said the district is treating the matter very seriously. “The student is immediately placed on out-of-school suspension, and there will be a superintendent’s hearing held next week to consider final discipline on the matter.” He noted that the student is entitled to due process, and discipline will be considered if and when guilt is established.