Teen flees VisionQuest, returns with
gun, is held
By Alexis Huicochea
Arizona Daily Star
July 15, 2006
A 17-year-old boy who ran away from a
VisionQuest facility in Elfrida on Tuesday had to be arrested by a
SWAT team after he returned with a shotgun and fired it into the
air.
John Morgan Gatlin was booked into
the Cochise County juvenile detention center on suspicion of
assault, burglary, theft and criminal damage, according to a news
release.
Gatlin told police he got the shotgun
from the room of a VisionQuest employee, Cochise County sheriff's
spokeswoman Carol Capas said Friday. The employee was fired.
VisionQuest is a program for juvenile
delinquents that is an alternative to incarceration.
The incident occurred Tuesday around
8:15 p.m. when the Sheriff's Department received word that Gatlin
had left the facility about 80 miles southeast of Tucson without
permission, according to the news release.
Staff members followed him into the
Swisshelm Mountains heading southeast of the Elfrida facility until
losing sight of the teen as he took off his shirt and continued on,
the release said.
Just after 10 p.m., VisionQuest
staffers reported that Gatlin had returned and was outside one of
the housing units with a weapon, the news release said. Staff
members were approaching the teen when he ordered them to stay away
and fired a single round into the air.
The staff then allowed Gatlin to
leave the facility, the release said.
The U.S. Border Patrol, Cochise
County sheriff's deputies and the Cochise County SWAT team began
searching for Gatlin, the release said. During that time, officials
received word that the teen had called his mother and told her what
was going on, and that he was armed. Soon thereafter, he was found
hiding under some brush, the release said.
No injuries were reported, Capas
said.
Mark Contento, executive vice
president of VisionQuest's western office based in Tucson, said he
was glad the incident ended peacefully but was disappointed that a
staff member chose to violate policy by having a weapon on the
property.
"It was a violation of policy, and it
was totally inappropriate," Contento said. "We deal with kids and we
have a responsibility to them, so we expect our staff to act
responsibly.
"Fortunately, everything ended
peacefully and all of the kids, staff and community were safe
throughout the incident."
Contact reporter Alexis Huicochea at
629-9412 or ahuicochea@azstarnet.com.
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