Sheriff: Two teens knew boy had gun at school before shooting

CINCINNATI (AP) — Two 14-year-old students who knew a boy had a gun at school before a cafeteria shooting have been charged with failing to report a crime, a sheriff said Friday.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said 14-year-old James Austin Hancock showed the handgun to the boys early in the school day, before the lunchtime shooting Monday at Madison Local Schools, near Middletown, about 25 miles from Cincinnati.

Jones said the boys have been issued a summons to appear in juvenile court on the misdemeanor count.

“I have to stress, it is imperative that if there is rumor or firsthand knowledge about any type of weapon or weapons that someone has or is intending to bring to school, it has to be reported to someone,” Jones said in a statement. He also urged parents to talk with their children about how important that is.

Authorities say two students were shot and two others were hurt Monday. They all are expected to recover.

Hancock is in juvenile detention on charges including attempted murder. He denied the charges through his attorney in a court appearance Tuesday.

The Butler County prosecutor has said he is considering seeking to have Hancock’s case moved into adult court.

Three days after the shooting, deputies arrested a man they found asleep in his car with two handguns and a box of ammunition near the Madison schools campus. Jones said there was no evidence that 23-year-old Bryan Miller posed a threat to the school, but his arrest Thursday alarmed parents in the district, which has nearly 1,600 students in pre-K through 12th grade.

Middletown Municipal Court records show that a hearing scheduled Friday for Miller, 23, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, was continued until March 18 to give him time to obtain an attorney. He is charged with having control of a vehicle while intoxicated and improper handling of a firearm in a vehicle, both misdemeanors. No phone listing was available for him.

By DAN SEWELL
Associated Press