Student Gets Jail Time For Bringing Loaded Gun, Knife To School

ROCKVILLE, MD — A Germantown teenager was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to bringing a loaded handgun to Clarksburg High School one day after the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Alwin Chen, 18, was arrested Feb. 5 for having a loaded, 9mm handgun and a knife on him at the school, police said. Chen said he brought the weapons to campus to defend himself and peers from possible mass shooters.

Chen was sentenced to four months in prison Tuesday. He has already been in jail for 69 days.

Chen agreed to plead guilty to carrying a handgun on public school property earlier this month.

“Alwin saw himself as a competent protector against perceived threats,” attorneys wrote in court filings, according to The Washington Post.

SEE ALSO:

• Student Expected To Plead Guilty For Bringing Gun To High School
• Student Regularly Brought Gun To School To Protect Himself
• Student Who Brought Gun To School Had More Weapons At Home
• Bomb Threats Reported At 2 Montgomery County High Schools
• Student Brings Loaded Gun, Knife To High School

Court documents filed in the case said Chen, an honor roll student, regularly carried a homemade Glock semiautomatic handgun in his backpack or in a holster in his shirt to protect himself and others, The Post reports. He admitted to police that he brought the gun to school and "described it as a regular occurrence," prosecutors said.

Chen said he built the gun from parts he ordered online and tools he bought at Home Depot. He also had access to guns his father kept in their home.

Montgomery County Police said they recovered two rifles, a shotgun, two handguns, ammunition, inert (replica) grenades, a ballistic vest and a replica electrical firing device (referred to as a clacker) at the home.

A student told police that Chen was "always talking about bringing guns to school and saying how he would kill anyone," The Post reports.

The same student told the Clarksburg High School's School Resource Officer (SRO) that Chen brought a gun to school the day he was arrested, just one day after 17 people were gunned down at a Parkland, Florida high school.

“Your honor, what I did was stupid,” Chen told the judge, according to ABC7. “I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. I brought a huge burden on my parents. I just want a chance to be productive in life, and I don’t want to be back here again.”

Chen will be released in mid-June.

Photos via MCPD