A 16-year-old boy was arrested in Westlake last week after he allegedly pointed a gun at a crowd of people at Crocker Park.
According to Westlake Police Captain Jerry Vogel, on March 28, officers were notified by Crocker Park Security of several groups of kids "getting into disputes" and trying to leave the shopping center when a teenager escalated the situation by pulling out a gun and pointing it at several people.
Responding officers were given the teen's description and found him a few minutes later, Vogel said. Officers searched the teen and found a loaded handgun inside his coat.
The teen was taken into custody immediately. A short time later, police discovered that the teen was wanted on several warrants from juvenile court for burglary and theft, Vogel said.
The police department is pursuing charges of aggravated menacing and carrying a concealed weapon.
Vogel said that when his department called the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Dention Center, it chose not to take the teen into custody.
"Unfortunately, we called the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center, and they assessed the situation. Decided not to take the juvenile into custody," Vogel said. "So we released him to his parents. So, they didn't enforce the warrants, and they didn't take him into custody for those new charges."
News 5 contacted the county's juvenile detention center to ask why it didn't take the teen into custody.
Its response:
"The case in question did not meet automatic admission criteria. However, the Court and the Prosecutor’s Office have an agreement for weapons cases to be considered for an admission override. The override was not utilized by the Prosecutor’s Office in this case. As a result of this incident, the admission criteria regarding the use or possession of weapons are being reviewed."
