Pacoima Father Faces Gun Charges After Son Threatens To Shoot Classmate

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A Pacoima man whose son last year threatened to shoot one of his classmates is facing several gun charges, authorities announced Thursday.

Albert Sanchez, 48, has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of unlawful storage of a firearm after his son, a ninth-grader at Cesar Chavez Academy, threatened to bring a gun to school and shoot a classmate, the Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer announced at a news conference.

On Nov. 1, 2018, the principal at Cesar Chavez notified the L.A. School Police Department about the alleged threat and information that the student possibly had access to guns at his home.

School police searched the home and found several unloaded and unsecured guns included a .357 revolver in a dresser, along with a .22 caliber handgun and .22 caliber rifle under a mattress.

"Near the weapons were hundreds of rounds of ammunition and two unused trigger locks," Feuer said.

Even though officers found three weapons, L.A.'s safe storage law currently only applies to handguns, which means that the city attorney's office could not file charges against Sanchez for the shotgun.

However, Feuer said that L.A. City Councilmember Paul Krekorian plans to introduce a motion next week that would add long guns to the safe storage law.

"As we know, we're standing here today, not to announce that there's been a tragic school shooting perpetrated by a young boy," Feuer said. "We easily could be hear in the aftermath of such a tragedy. That's why it's so imperative that we get the word out to all residents in our community to store weapons safely."

It's unclear if the boy was charged with any crimes, or whether he still attends the school. Sanchez faces a maximum sentence of one year jail and $2,000 in fines.