A group of Rippon Middle School students is the focus of a lengthy investigation after a student was robbed at knifepoint, and police learned a student brought a gun to school.
On Wednesday, April 6, at 4:52 p.m., officers were called to investigate a robbery in the 14800 block of Blackburn Road, near Featherstone Elementary School in Woodbridge, earlier that afternoon.
Police said a 14-year-old male boy got off a bus and walked home with a friend when a group of teenagers approached them. One of the teenagers showed a knife and demanded the victim’s shoes.
The teenager took the shoes, and the mob fled. Officers learned the parties, the teenagers, and the victim knew each other and all attend nearby Rippon Middle School, at 15101 Blackburn Road.
On April 7, the School Resource Officer at the school continued the investigation into the incident. School administrators later found a loaded magazine and additional ammunition in the locker of one of the juveniles tied to the robbery. According to police, one of the teens may have had a gun on him during the robbery.
According to police, another teen involved in the robbery had a firearm at school and that the weapon had been passed around between multiple students during the day.
The SRO spoke to several students who either had possession or knowledge of the gun’s presence on school grounds throughout the investigation. According to police, the gun, which had been taken from the home of another juvenile involved, was eventually returned and determined not to have been used in the robbery.
On Thursday, April 13, following the investigation, the SRO obtained detention orders for four juveniles involved in the initial robbery and gun on school grounds. The school administration disciplined three other teens, police said.
