Photo: Courtesy Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff Photographer / Houston Chronicle Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff Photographer Photo: Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photo: Godofredo A. Vásquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff Photographer Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff Photographer Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff Photographer / Houston Chronicle

Police have found the gun believed to have been used in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old student inside Bellaire High School last week, Bellaire police said.

Lt. Greg Bartlett said Monday the weapon is in the possession of Bellaire Police Department, without elaborating.

Last week, Bartlett said the 16-year-old suspect in the shooting, whose identity was not made available because he has been charged as a juvenile, was refusing to talk to investigators. The lieutenant would not say how or where the weapon was found or if the suspect’s cooperation has changed.

Officers had been searching several streets surrounding the Maple Street school since Tuesday afternoon, when 19-year-old senior Cesar Cortes, also a recent Army recruit, was shot in a JROTC facility. The gunman is believed to have bolted from the school and stashed the gun at an undisclosed location.

He was later arrested and charged with manslaughter, according to Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who said she believed the shooting was unintentional.

jay.jordan@chron.com

nicole.hensley@chron.com