‘Very unusual’ for 9-year-old to be in juvenile detention

A third-grader at Rosa Parks Elementary came to school Monday with a loaded 9 millimeter gun and four extra bullets in his pocket, according to Middletown police.

The 9-year-old, who told police he what going to show the loaded gun to a boy who had beat him up, is now in the Butler County Juvenile Detention Center and will remain there until a court hearing next week.

Rob Clevenger, Butler County Juvenile Court administrator, told this news outlet it is “very unusual” for a 9 year old to be housed in the juvenile detention center.

The boy is being housed separate from older juveniles, he said.

“We usually do not house youth under the age of 12,” Clevenger said.

But it has occurred before.

“We did have 9-year-olds (housed in the Butler County Juvenile Detention Center) in 2014 and 2015 and those were gun related offenses,” he said.

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