Hearing next week in gun case agaubst MCCTC student

Staff report

Canfield

A preliminary hearing is set for 9 a.m. Friday for a Mahoning County Career and Technical Center student accused of bringing a handgun onto school property.

Joseph Bailey, 18, of Gladstone Road, North Jackson, is charged with illegal conveyance of a deadly weapon in a school zone. Police got a report that Bailey had a gun in his car at the school Thursday.

Bailey appeared Friday before Judge Scott Hunter of Mahoning County Area Court in Canfield and said he understood the charge. Because it’s a felony charge, Bailey didn’t enter a plea, and the judge set the preliminary hearing. Judge Hunter also continued Bailey’s $2,500 bond.

Police were called to the school after another student reported to the MCCTC assistant principal that possibly there was a handgun in the glove compartment of Bailey’s car.

The student told school administrators that he saw the firearm in the glove compartment Tuesday and believed it was still in the vehicle, according to a police report.

Bailey was called out of class when police arrived, and when asked if he had anything illegal or against school policy inside his vehicle, he told police he “may have forgotten to take his gun out of vehicle before coming to school,” the police report said.

He told police where it was, and officers found a .22-caliber revolver loaded with six rounds of ammunition in the glove box. The gun was missing its trigger, but police said the hammer still was functioning. A folding knife also was seized from the glove compartment.