Police arrested a 16 year old Oxford boy with a concealed pistol in an alley off College Corner Pike, on Friday, April 12.

 The suspect, who is not being named by the Observer because he is a juvenile, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and having a weapon while under disability, according to the police report.

 He was taken to the Butler County Juvenile Detention Center after his arrest, and is awaiting a hearing in Butler County Juvenile Court.

 Finding a juvenile with a gun is highly unusual in Oxford, said Lt. Lara Fening. “I would say maybe once every two or three years.”

The disability charge is filed when someone caught with a gun is legally prohibited from having the gun under any circumstances. In this case, it was filed because a juvenile with a prior conviction is not permitted to carry a concealed weapon, according to the Ohio Revised Code. Details of the suspect’s record were not made public.

 According to the Oxford Police report on the incident, the juvenile was spotted by two officers on foot patrol about 7:15 p.m. near an alley between Chef Lin’s Restaurant and the Parkview Apartments. Officer Matt Hardin said in the report that he recognized the teen from numerous previous contacts and asked him what he was up to.

 Hardin said in the report that when he asked the teen if he was carrying anything that he should not be carrying, he responded that he had a loaded gun in his pocket. The officer then patted the suspect down and recovered a loaded .22-caliber revolver.

 According to the report, the juvenile told the officers the gun did not belong to him but that he was holding it for a friend who had dropped it near the alley earlier after the friend had seen police in the area. The friend, according to the suspect, had later contacted the suspect and asked him to go retrieve the gun. Police said they had not been able to verify the suspect’s story, or even if the friend the juvenile named actually existed.