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Feb. 28\u2014A Santa Fe High School student faces a suspension as well as a felony criminal charge after police said he brought multiple knives to the school in his backpack earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Israel Urbina, 18, faces a felony charge of unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on a school premises.<\/p>\n
Police arrived at the school Feb. 16 to investigate the incident, which officers said happened the day before, according to a criminal complaint filed earlier this week in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court.<\/p>\n
A teacher told police Urbina took out a knife and “began to twirl it in his hand” while she was checking over his work on an assignment, police wrote in a statement of probable cause.<\/p>\n
The teacher told police Urbina did not remove the blade of the knife during the incident and “never threatened or harmed anyone with the knife,” according to the statement.<\/p>\n
Urbina claimed what he was holding was not a real knife but a “trainer,” according to the statement, but the teacher said she “could tell the knife was real” and reported it to the school’s security staff.<\/p>\n
While the teacher was waiting for security to arrive, she told police, she “noticed more knives as he was trying to hide them,” police wrote in the statement. A security guard confiscated the knife from Urbina along with three others that were in his backpack. The knives were handed over to investigators and entered as evidence, police wrote.<\/p>\n
Urbina was not in school during the investigation by police the next day; he had been suspended after the incident, the statement says.<\/p>\n
The criminal complaint and statement of probable cause do not contain any statements from any police interview with Urbina, who did not return calls Wednesday seeking comment on the incident.<\/p>\n
Police had arrived at the school to investigate an unrelated report of a firearm on campus, according to the statement, but Santa Fe police Deputy Chief Ben Valdez said in an interview Wednesday police determined there was no gun.<\/p>\n
Santa Fe Public Schools spokesman Cody Dynarski wrote in an email school’s staff followed the proper procedures and protocol for both incidents.<\/p>\n
Valdez said the felony charge against the teen could pose significant ramification but noted it is an indication the department takes the offense seriously.<\/p>\n
“We understand sometimes kids make mistakes,” Valdez said. “But we hope people will understand this is very discouraged, and it is prohibited by law to have a deadly weapon on school grounds.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n