Three teenagers were cited Friday for violating an Elk Grove Village ordinance after police said they brought a plastic pellet gun to high school summer classes and fired a few rounds.
The youths, two 14-year-olds and a 15-year-old, were suspended and will miss the last four days of summer school next week at Elk Grove High School, said a spokeswoman for Arlington Heights-based Township District 214. They could lose class credits and face other disciplinary proceedings, she said.
But they won’t face criminal charges, police said.
“This was not a malicious act,” said an Elk Grove Village police youth officer who asked not to be identified. “This was a group of friends making poor decisions. They were not looking to hurt anyone.”
An Elk Grove Village ordinance prohibits the discharge of any firearms, including pellet and BB guns, said Deputy Police Chief Larry Hammar. The teens were cited for violating a provision of the ordinance that also bans the carrying or concealing of unlawful weapons.
The incident at Elk Grove High School started Thursday morning when one of the three brought the gun to school in his backpack. He shot a few pellets on the bus ride to school, said district spokeswoman Venetia Miles, but didn’t hit anyone, and no one reported the boy.
At the school, one of the boy’s friends took the gun, described by police as a black plastic replica of a semi-automatic pistol, and shot pellets at three girls in a hallway. One girl was hit in the chin, one in the back and a third in the elbow, Miles said.
The third boy shot off the pellet gun in the first boy’s backpack while both were in a classroom, Miles said.
The girls went to school officials, who called police, Miles said. The girls were not seriously injured.
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