The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office says a 14-year-old accused of bringing a gun to Vigor High School and attempting to fire it at another student will face an upgraded charge of attempted murder, prosecutors announced days after the incident.
As of the announcement, authorities had not publicly identified the student, who remained in custody at the Strickland Youth Center. An assistant district attorney said the teen will go through a transfer hearing in juvenile court, a proceeding similar to a preliminary hearing in adult district court, where a judge will weigh whether enough evidence exists to move the case to adult court.
“It was at a school — it doesn’t get more serious than that,” the prosecutor said, explaining the decision to pursue the more serious charge rather than a lesser weapons offense.
Police had previously said the student pulled the trigger of a .22-caliber revolver twice during a confrontation with a classmate, but the gun failed to fire either time. A Prichard police spokeswoman said her department had not been informed of the charge upgrade at the time reporters asked for comment, suggesting the decision moved through the district attorney’s office independently of local police.
Mobile County Public Schools officials separately praised the actions of a JROTC instructor, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, who is credited with physically subduing the armed student and holding him until officers arrived on campus. School administrators have pointed to his quick response as the reason the confrontation did not turn deadly.
The push to charge a 14-year-old as an adult reflects the seriousness with which the district attorney’s office is treating firearm incidents on school grounds, even when, as in this case, no one was physically injured. Attempted murder charges against juveniles typically require a transfer hearing before any move to adult court can proceed, giving a judge discretion over how the case will ultimately be handled.
The case has drawn renewed attention to safety protocols at Vigor High School and across the Mobile County school system, with parents and administrators alike watching to see whether the transfer hearing results in the teen being tried as an adult.
No additional details about the student’s identity or a hearing date had been released as the juvenile justice process continued to unfold.