A young man chose to fire several shots at Maurice Elementary School on
Monday afternoon, and will now be taken to court and charged confer Arizona’s
Shannon’s Law. This law was created to dictate situations where
an offender disrupts and educational institution. The law was established
after a fourteen year old girl was killed by a stray bullet in Phoenix.
According to Shannon’s law, disrupting an educational institution
with a deadly weapon can be charged as a felony offense in Arizona. While
the actual act of shooting the weapon may only constitute a misdemeanor,
Shannon’s Law makes sure that an offender can get serious punishment
for his or her crimes if they have the possibility of injuring an innocent
individual.
Under
Shannon’s Law, the thirteen-year-old gunman at the elementary school could be charged
with a felony for his crime. Local news reports say that Maurice Elementary
School remained on lockdown for about an hour after the shooting, and
officers found the child who had shot the gun hiding in his backyard.
Individuals inside the boy’s home were not cooperating with the
officers, and wouldn’t let them in to search. There was allegedly
a second person with the boy at the time of the shooting, and the police
are trying to identify the accomplice at present.
If you shot a stray bullet for any reason, you too could be prosecuted
under Shannon’s Law. In some cases, your arrest may be a misunderstanding.
Maybe you accidentally fired the gun because the safety was off, or were
shooting at game on a hunting trip. Whatever your reasons, you will want
an aggressive Phoenix Criminal Defense Lawyer on your side if you have
any hope of making it out without a sentence. Talk to someone at the Knowles
Law Firm today to get representation you need!