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LOWELLVILLE -- Jessica Wolfe, 33, of Lowellville, who has a connection to the boy whose backpack had a gun in it when he entered the Lowellville schools on Oct. 31, has been charged with misdemeanor child endangering in the incident.
Mahoning County Juvenile Court officials confirmed the charge Monday, saying Wolfe is scheduled for an arraignment in juvenile court at 11 a.m. Dec. 4.
Rick Alli, Lowellville police chief, said the charge is filed in juvenile court because his officers were in communication with officials at juvenile court regarding what to do about the 8-year-old boy at the time Wolfe was charged.
Charges in these types of matters can be filed in either juvenile court or adult court, Alli said.
Alli said Wolfe is charged with failing to properly secure the gun the boy had in his backpack. The gun was hers, Alli said.
Wolfe also is the woman who brought a firearm onto the school grounds in May 2022 in the aftermath of a boy shooting himself in the school cafeteria in front of other students, Alli confirmed. That boy later died.
On the day of that incident, Wolfe came to the campus to pick up a student and was found to have a firearm. She was arrested by Mahoning County deputies.
She was charged with felony illegal conveyance or possession of a deadly weapon in a school safety zone and misdemeanor misconduct at an emergency. No court records are available online that indicate how that case was resolved.
Alli said her case was handled through the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court's Honor Court, which is run by Judge Anthony D'Apolito.
Honor Court serves military veterans who are charged with low-level felony offenses who meet "legal and clinical eligibility requirements," according to a U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs grant announcement for the program. A goal of the program is to reduce recidivism.
In the Oct. 31 incident, Alli said the gun was found in the boy's backpack as he went through a metal detector at the school entrance. The gun did not have a bullet in the chamber and could not have been fired by the 8-year-old boy because of his age and strength level, Alli said.
"At all times, the weapon was safe. It could not have had an accidental discharge," Alli said. "There was never any kids that were in any danger."
The weapon was found "during the standard screening procedures that we do at the school," Alli said, noting that metal detectors became standard screening devices in the school district after the May 2022 incident.
Alli said he does not know whether Halloween played any role in the Oct. 31 incident. He declined to discuss whether the boy is charged with any criminal offense.
He said Wolfe's actions required action be taken.
"We can't let these actions continue to go without her answering for them," Alli said. "We're trying to be fair but diligent at the same time."
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