Seven more students - two in Madison, two in West Bend, three in Milwaukee - arrested in school violence cases

Molly Beck | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON – Two 13-year-old boys have been arrested in Madison after one allegedly shot a pellet gun out of a bus window striking another student on Tuesday and the second boy brought a BB gun to school the next day.

And in Milwaukee, three boys, ages 12, 13 and 14, were arrested Wednesday morning for allegedly making a shooting threat against Wedgewood Park International School on Milwaukee's south side, Milwaukee police said.

In West Bend, two boys, ages 15 and 17, were arrested Wednesday after police say they distributed an image on social media suggesting shootings would occur at five area high schools.

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The arrests come the same week that a police officer shot a student inside a Waukesha high school after he brought two pellet guns to school and refused to drop one and an Oshkosh student stabbed a school resource officer before being shot by the officer.

Overall, ten Wisconsin schools have been hit by some sort of violence or threat of violence this week.

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Madison Police Department spokesman Joel Despain said one boy fired the pellet gun out of a bus and struck a female student around 4:20 p.m. about three miles away from Jefferson Middle School, where the boy and girl attend.

Despain said as that boy was being arrested Wednesday morning at the school, a second student is accused of bringing the pellet gun into the school building. He was later arrested, too.

"At this time we do not have any reason to believe the student intended to harm anyone with it," said Tequila Kurth, principal of Jefferson Middle School in Madison. "Nevertheless, we take this issue very seriously and we are following up with the student and the student’s family."

Kurth said school staff will be talking to students about behavior expectations and the seriousness of possessing any type of weapon, including pellet guns, fake guns and toy weapons.

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In the Milwaukee case, police became aware of the threat shortly after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a news release.

The boys were arrested for making terrorist threats against the middle school on social media, and the case will be reviewed by the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office, police said.

MPS said one of those taken into custody was a student at Wedgewood Park School.

In the West Bend case, a student Tuesday evening told police he had received an image of a compass with the names of five cities: Waukesha, Oshkosh, Sheboygan, Brookfield and West Bend, police said.

The 15-year-old West Bend boy created the image and sent it to friends, and the 17-year-old West Bend boy distributed it further, police said. The picture was meant to suggest that the five cities would be the next targets of school shootings, the 15-year-old told police.

Police recommended Washington County prosecutors charge both teens with disorderly conduct. They plan to charge the 15-year-old as a juvenile. Brookfield police also recommended Waukesha County prosecutors charge the teens with disorderly conduct.

"It is so important for students to speak up and say something to a trusted adult if they are ever aware of information that concerns them," Kurth said. "We want students to feel empowered to positively challenge the 'culture of silence' that can exist."

Sophie Carson of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.