Lancaster Student, 11, Charged in Gun Incident

SYLMAR — The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office on Monday filed charges against a fifth-grader that included bringing a loaded pistol to Wilsona Elementary School in Lancaster and using it to threaten students.

The 11-year-old boy was arrested Thursday after a school volunteer allegedly found the .25-caliber weapon in the boy’s pants pocket when he was on the school playground.

The boy said he found the gun on the floor of his Lake Los Angeles home and brought it to school to hurt a female classmate because he felt scorned by her, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said.

Prosecutors allege the fifth-grader committed three felony offenses, including bringing a loaded gun onto a school campus and making terrorist threats against the girl and another boy, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Yochelson.

Authorities also went to the boy’s home and arrested his mother, Julie De La Cruz, 34, on suspicion of child endangerment.

Five other children at the residence--ranging in age from 13 months to 15 years--were taken into protective custody and turned over to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

De La Cruz was freed after posting $50,000 bail. She has not been charged by the district attorney’s Antelope Valley office.