Parents of teen who allegedly brought a loaded gun to school charged with concealing evidence

The parents of a Missouri teen who allegedly brought a gun to a school were charged Thursday after officials said the two adults hid the boy’s backpack full of ammunition in the mother’s home after their son was arrested.

Terry Thompson and Traci Thompson were identified by several local ones news broadcasts as the teen’s parents took custody Tuesday after police alleged he planned shootings at multiple schools in the Ritenour School District.

A spokesperson for the St. Ann Police Department confirmed to JS that the suspect was 16 years old and not a current Ritenour School District student.

The parents were both charged with tampering with physical evidence in a criminal prosecution, according to a criminal complaint obtained by JS.

St. Ann police responded a Facebook message on the St. Ann Neighborhood Watch page, an official account managed by the department, that they received information Tuesday from another student’s grandmother that the 16-year-old had made threats against the Ritenour School District on social media.

According to police, the teen was found at one of the schools with a fully loaded gun. Police say when authorities approached, he tried to flee and threw his gun.

He was arrested about a block away from the school. according to NBC affiliate KSDK.

The parents were reportedly present when the teen was taken into custody, and according to the St. Ann Police Department post, they went back to the father’s home to grab their son’s backpack full of ammunition and take it to the house. to hide the mother in an attempt to hide during the police investigation.

“This could have been a Uvalde situation. And we prevented that,” St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez told the local news station KMOV after the arrest.

According to the newspaper, police recovered a fully loaded Glock pistol with an extended magazine in a trash bin near Husky Academy, an alternative school for grades 5 through 12.

After their son was arrested, the parents were taken into custody on outstanding warrants and authorities executed a search warrant at both of their homes, St. Ann police said.

Police say the 16-year-old’s backpack, found at the mother’s home, “contained multiple high-capacity magazines and ammunition.”

The teen remains in juvenile detention, police said. His parents’ criminal complaint said he was charged with making a terrorist threat at a high school, unlawful use of a weapon and resisting arrest.

The parents are scheduled to appear in St. Louis County Court on September 27 for a bond reduction hearing. Court records did not list an attorney representing the two.