Accused Teen’s Mom: “…The Gun Part Was Made Up.”

FORT MILL, S.C. – Kids and guns, a lightning rod topic right now. Schools, communities, police: taking threats seriously. News broke this weekend, out of the Strawberry Festival in Fort Mill, that a 14-year-old allegedly pointed a gun at two other kids.

Police found the teen suspect shortly after and took him into custody. But even after an extensive search, they can’t find the alleged gun. Fort Mill Police tell WCCB, in part: “The weapon was not recovered and we have no information at this time as to how it was obtained.”

“I think the gun part was made up. Yes,” says the teen’s mom, who didn’t want to be identified. She wasn’t with him Saturday night. She says she did hear from another mom at the event that her child was being chased by a group of kids. She believes he has been wrongly charged, and that there is no gun to find. She says, “An officer spoke to me today on the phone that they are hoping he will tell the police where he put it.”

The teen suspect’s brother was with him Saturday night. He spoke to WCCB with his mother’s permission. WCCB News @ Ten anchor Morgan Fogarty asked, “Did your brother have a gun that night?” The brother replied, “No.” Fogarty asked, “Would you have known if your brother had a gun that night?” The brother replied, “He tells me a lot of stuff and he most definitely would have told me if he had a gun.”

Another girl at the event, with her mom’s permission, tells WCCB in party that the accused teen “…did not have anything in his hands and was using his hands while he was running trying to get away.”

The teen’s mom, speaking out, she says, to reassure parents that there is not an unaccounted for gun floating around the Fort Mill area. She says, “I just want to be clear, that he didn’t have a gun, that that part is not true.”

The mom says her ex-husband has a gun, but it’s accounted for. Fort Mill Police maintain that witnesses confirmed the teen suspect did point a handgun at two other kids. They charged him with 2nd degree assault and battery, and two counts of pointing and presenting a firearm.