Md. student carried gun to school to protect self from shooters

Alwin Chen was arrested Feb. 15 for bringing his handgun to Clarksburg High School in Maryland.(MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT)

A Maryland student charged with bringing his gun to his high school kept it in his backpack or a holster because he wanted to protect himself and classmates from a mass shooting, court documents reveal.

Alwin Chen, a Clarksburg High School senior, was carrying a Glock semiautomatic handgun regularly at school and also had access to his father’s firearms, the documents obtained by the Washington Post say.

Chen was arrested Feb. 15 — a day after a gunman fatally shot 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

A student warned a school officer about Chen having a weapon, which led to his arrest. The student said Chen had been carrying the weapon since December.

That student later told Montgomery police Chen would always talk “about bringing guns to school and saying how he would kill anyone,” prosecutors said in papers.

Prosecutor, in filings, acknowledged the 18-year-old had a journal where the honor student wrote about feeling lonely and of mental illness.

A recovered handgun that belonged to Chen.(MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT)

“Sometimes I think I am crazy or mentally ill,” Chen wrote. “But I hide it and refuse to admit it because I know how to cope and blend into society but it’s just too lonely.”

In the journal, he also wrote, “I want to kill all evil forces, but I’d like to die for nothing.”

Chen’s defense attorneys argue their client wasn’t a threat and that his weapons were removed from his home, according to WTOP.

After reviewing his documents, school officials concluded Chen had no intentions of harming anyone at the school.

Chen remains jailed, and has a bond hearing Tuesday.

- ny news