Recordpub.com - Hunter ends up on school land in Kent: Man with shotgun seen near Roosevelt, removed by police

By Matt Fredmonsky

Record-Courier staff writer

An apparently wayward hunter armed with a shotgun walked onto Kent City Schools property near Theodore Roosevelt High and Stanton Middle schools early Tuesday.

A school bus driver spotted the man at about 7:30 a.m. at Standing Rock Cemetery across from the high school. School employees relayed the information to Kent police, who confronted the man between the high school and middle school before 8 a.m.

He told police he was walking from his home on the east side of Kent to a property on Johnson Road in Franklin Township to do some hunting, Kent Police Lt. Jayme Cole said.

“At no time was there any threat to school kids,” Cole said. “But the guy just didn’t have a clue people might perceive him as a threat walking through a school zone with a gun.”

Cole said officers took the weapon, escorted the hunter off school property and took him to his destination in Franklin Township, but police did not arrest the man. The case is being reviewed and he eventually may face charges.

It is illegal to carry a deadly weapon into a school safety zone in Ohio. According to the Ohio Revised Code, any person who violates the law could face a fifth-degree felony charge.

Kent Superintendent Joe Giancola said parents were alerted with a parent broadcast at 8 a.m., and principals in both schools made announcements to students informing them of the situation.

Giancola said the incident took place as students arrived for school and some witnessed police arrive and escort the man off school property. He said the man had the gun slung visibly over his shoulder.

“We were never in lock down,” Giancola said. “As unusual as this incident is, we’re relieved to know nothing ever happened to cause any harm. Kent police were on the scene immediately and apprehended the man.”

25.	Posted by EKlectic December 3, 2009
	A shot gun is a heck of a lot different than a pocket knife. If you want to go that route then pens, pencils, scissors, even rulers could be considered deadly weapons and should be removed from the school. This was an unidentified male on foot with a deadly weapon slung over his shoulder. Luckily it wasn't, but this could have been some whacko who wasn't just lost on his way to hunt, and since he made it onto the school grounds, this could have resulted in a much worse front page story. Thank you to the bus driver who was paying attention and the Kent police for acting quickly.

24.	Posted by T.I.B.S December 3, 2009
	@jillcorrell I had just about forgot about the incident at Walls and the poor judgement and half truths that where reported to the parents. That event infuriated me! My son had come home telling me that a boy had brought a knife to school. My husband and I thought that our son was fabricating the story because if this was true we would have been notified immediately by the phone system, which did not happen. Our son also said it had happened after the start of classes and it was reported that it happened before classes started...truth is it did happen when kids were in class. Walls new principal does not hold a candle to the old one- Motley. Thankfully nobody was hurt in either instance and the bus driver was alert to his/her surroundings earlier this week. I would like to point out-lets not be naive and think that there are no weapons in school, especially Roosevelt where a lot of boys carry knifes.

23.	Posted by jillcorrell December 3, 2009
	I have a child at Roosevelt and one at Stanton. I am SO glad the bus driver called this one in. Crazy things happen and people are bold. Anyone who was able to obtain a hunting license should be familiar with all laws relating to hunting and possesion of weapons. He should have been smarter and made better decisions. I was notified by phone at 8:30am and very glad we have the phone system in place. I'm glad this was handled appropriately unlike the fiasco at Walls some months back when extremely poor judgment was used by that principal. This has nothing to do with being a conservative or a liberal. It has to do with protecting our kids and following rules. Also, thank you to Kent police for their quick response.

21.	Posted by draygreen06 December 2, 2009
	whatever the facts are the facts.. the coverage of the parade last saturday was minimal at best just like the balloon afair coverage. and im sure in sundays paper there will be more than one picture of the event taking place in kent .. the record needs to just move there office to kent so we can work on getting a newspaper that will cover the events around here with a little more respect than they offer now.... and just an fyi a lot of people feel the same way i do but im not going to list there names on here