A pair of Kentlake High School students who allegedly brought a gun to school on April 3 were charged by the King County Prosecutor’s Office on April 6 with unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree as well as unlawful possession of a deadly firearm at school.

According to the probable cause documents provided by the prosecutor’s office, Kentlake administrators learned around 10 a.m. that a student was suspected of bringing a gun to school.

Because both boys are minors the Reporter is not identifying them.

According to Dan Donahoe, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, the sentence range for the two charges is up to 60 days in Juvenile Detention, or up to 30 days per count.

School security officers briefed a deputy on what they knew then Kentlake Principal Joe Potts provided additional information shortly after that.

Deputies removed one boy from his classroom.

One officer told the boy “there were witnesses that saw him with the gun and of the urgency to remove it before anyone gets hurt,” according to the probably cause documents.

The boy told the officer he put it in another student’s backpack and the deputy re-entered the room immediately then told all the students to put their hands on their desks.

A second boy in the classroom was identified by officers, though it isn’t clear in the charging papers if it was a school security officer or a deputy, and an officer grabbed his backpack while another officer asked to talk to the boy.

Initially the second boy told an officer he knew the gun was in his backpack. He was escorted from the classroom while another deputy remained in the room to inform students what happened.

The boys were separated and deputies recovered the handgun.

One officer informed the second boy of his Miranda rights which the teen waived. At that point the boy said he didn’t know there was a gun in his backpack.

When asked why he changed his story, the second boy said the other boy “asked to borrow an erase and saw him put something in his backpack but didn’t know what it was,” according to the charging papers.

The second boy said he hadn’t been threatened by the other boy.

Initially the first boy said he stole the gun from his aunt and “brought it to school for protection” then put it in the other boy’s backpack.

Later, when he was interviewed by a detective and been informed of his Miranda rights, the boy said he stole the gun from a family friend in Oregon.

A witness said in a statement he saw the first boy showing the gun to other students in his weight lifting class and told the teacher.

The handgun was reported stolen by its owner in Eastern Washington on April 4 after she realized it was missing.

The boy whose backpack the gun was allegedly stashed in was released to his parents last week while the older boy remained in custody because he was considered a threat and flight risk, according to Donahoe.

According to Kent School District spokesman Chris Loftis, the school is required by state law expel students who are found to be in possession of a deadly weapon on campus on an emergency basis for 12 months. The students can request the district to override the emergency expulsion through a direct act of the school superintendent.