On May 25, 2016 at approximately 10:30 am Vanden High School administrators in the Travis Unified School District received information that a student had a gun at the school. The school administrator notified the Fairfield Police Department’s School Resource Officer assigned to that campus and initiated a joint investigation.
A short time later the school Assistant Principal and School Resource Officer detained a 14-year-old Fairfield resident who is a student at Vanden High School. The student was not in possession of a gun, but was in possession of a live .380 caliber bullet.
The School Resource Officer learned that the student had possession of a 380 caliber semi-automatic pistol earlier in the day, but hid the gun under a trash bin in a restroom at the school. The unloaded gun was recovered by alert school staff during a check of an area where the student had been seen earlier in the morning. The 14-year-old had also hidden the gun magazine, with two bullets, in another student’s bag unbeknownst to the other student. The magazine and ammo were also recovered.
The 14-year-old student was arrested for being in possession of a firearm on school grounds, being a minor in possession of ammunition, and destroying/concealing evidence. He was booked into the Solano Juvenile Detention Center.
The gun owner is an adult relative of the arrested student, and the gun had apparently been taken recently without permission. The on-going investigation will determine whether the gun had been legally stored to prevent access by juveniles in the home. Officers searched the arrested Juvenile’s bedroom and located an expended 380 caliber bullet casing.
The Fairfield Police Department would like to remind all gun owners to be responsible and secure firearms in a manner that juveniles cannot gain access to them. Teens that are infatuated with weapons frequently take them from their own home, and are at risk of harming themselves and others with them. For more information on gun safety and storage, please click on the following link: https://oag.ca.gov/firearms/tips
The Fairfield Police Department offers free trigger locks. We currently have 12 in stock, and more are on order. Please call the Fairfield Police Department Records Unit at (707) 428-7310 to inquire about availability before dropping by. Free trigger locks are limited to two per person, per visit while quantities last.
REWARD: People that report illegal firearms possession on school grounds may be eligible for a $200 cash reward from the Fairfield Police Department. Tipsters must have personal knowledge that the weapon is illegally possessed, provide sufficient information for officers to be able to identify the person with it, their whereabouts, and how they know the person is actually in possession of it. Tips about possession of weapons on school grounds or other crimes may be made by calling 911, by notifying school staff or the School Resource Officer, or by calling “Crimestoppers” at (707) 644-STOP. Tips about weapons may be made confidentially and are still eligible for the reward, as long as the Police Department can obtain enough information to confidentially contact the tipster at a later time.
You can also Text-A-Tip by sending TIP FAIRFIELDPD followed by your message to 888777.
