Court Date Set For Norristown Mother After Son Brought Loaded Gun To School: DA

NORRISTOWN, PA — A Norristown woman will appear in Montgomery County Court this week after police said her 6-year-old son brought her loaded handgun into school.

Jasmin Devlin, 30, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment.

A preliminary hearing is set for April 13 at 10 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Francis J. Lawrence Jr.

The incident occurred on Feb. 9 at Joseph K. Gotwals Elementary School.

The night before, on Feb. 8, Devlin's son found the gun in Devlin's dresser, police said. His 10-year-old brother took the bullets out of the gun and pointed the weapon at him, "pretending to shoot him," according to investigators. Then in the middle of the night, the 6-year-old got up and put the weapon into his backpack.

The next morning, Devlin's son showed the weapon to other students on the school bus, and then brought the gun into the school itself, police said.

A group of children reported seeing a "real gun and bullets" to the school secretary, who called the boy into her office and saw the loaded weapon in his backpack, according to authorities.

Norristown Police Chief Michael Bishop called the children who reported the gun "true heroes."

"Their notification to school officials resulted in an immediate response by Norristown Police," Bishop said in a statement, adding that they "prevented tragedy."

The weapon was a "straw purchase," which means it was bought by a second party for another person. The weapon in Devlin's possession was purchased illegally by Joseph Rudnitskas, 33, of Norristown. Rudnitskas was arrested in April 2022 and is awaiting trial on multiple felony counts.

Devlin turned herself into police after the incident. Bail was set at $50,000, and she is not allowed to have any contact with children.