Student Remains In Jail Without Bond After Bringing Gun To School

CLARKSBURG, MD — A Montgomery County District Court judge denied a request for bail review in an emergency hearing Tuesday for Alwin Chen, the 18-year-old Clarksburg High School honor roll student found with a loaded gun at school.

Chen's attorneys pushed for District Judge John Moffet to reconsider his decision because of the "profoundly incorrect information" prosecutors presented during his first bond hearing. Namely, prosecutors said Chen had a "list of grievances" in his journal police located at his Germantown home. Montgomery County Police later clarified, saying: "There is no wording regarding any threat nor any expression of wanting to cause harm to anyone at the school in this journal."

Moffett said Tuesday that Chen presents a danger to the public, even if he's released to home detention, WTOP reports. Moffett cited Chen's ability to build guns and distressing entries in his journal as to why he will remain in jail without bond.

“This is about a young man bringing a loaded handgun into a public high school,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said at a news conference after the hearing Tuesday. “And that was, I think, the single-largest factor in what the judge just talked about in court.”

Chen was arrested Feb. 15 for having a loaded, 9mm handgun and a knife on him at the school, police said. Chen was charged with possession of a handgun, possession of a firearm by a person under 21 years old and possession of a firearm on school property.

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

He told police he regularly brought weapons to class to protect himself and others from a possible mass shooter.

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 Washington 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.

See Related:

• 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

Chen's journal entries included some of the following statements, according to court documents:

• "I can’t help but feel angry at myself and mad at the world. … I am an insane and terrible person.”
• "I might start doing some vigilante operations. I don’t plan on killing people, but I’m surely going to hit evil people."
• “Sometimes I think I am crazy or mentally ill. But I hide it and refuse to admit it because I know how to cope and blend into society but it’s just too lonely."

Chen's attorneys said the journal "makes no threat or expresses a desire to cause harm," but Montgomery County state's attorneys said they still believe Chen presents a threat to the public.

“We are very appreciative that the court gave us an opportunity to correct the record that there was no ‘grievances’ — there was no ‘list of grievances’ — and that was twice stated in the original bond hearing,” Jill Michaels, one of Chen’s defense attorneys, said at the hearing, according to WTOP. “This is a good kid who’s on the cusp of graduating."

Photo via Montgomery County Police