By DEBRA HAIGHT
Special to Leader Publications

A Niles High School student tried as an adult in Berrien County Court is going to prison after being charged with concealing a weapon and resisting police arrest.
Rashawn Bradbury, 17, of South Fifth Street in Niles, pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced Monday in Berrien County Trial Court to 23 months to five years in prison on the weapon charge. He must forfeit the gun and pay $1,098 in fines and costs.
He was given a concurrent sentence of 365 days in jail for the attempted resisting and obstructing charge. He has credit for 112 days already served in both cases.
The incident occurred Dec. 5 at Niles High School and a nearby neighborhood. Bradbury was 16 at the time of his arrest but was waived to adult court.
The school was locked down for 10 minutes while authorities apprehended the student, according to a press release from the Niles Police Department.
An anonymous student claimed to have seen Bradbury with the loaded gun in school. News of the gun was brought to the attention of the school resource officer, Niles police officer Kevin Kosten, who confronted Bradbury inside the school. Kosten and other officers finally caught up with Bradbury, who had hid in a nearby storage shed.
Niles Community School Superintendent Dan Applegate said in situations such as these, making sure that students are safe is top priority.
“Niles Community Schools is committed to the safety and security of all our students and that priority remains at the forefront of any decision that is made,” said Niles High School principal Molly Brawley. “In December 2016, Niles High School was placed on lock down because administrators had reason to believe there may have been a student with a weapon on campus.”
With the voter approved bond project, Applegate said the schools will aim to continue to upgrade and make schools more safe and secure.
Additionally, students practice lock downs each year. Through the “OK2SAY” initiative, students are also encouraged to share with a trusted adult information about a potentially dangerous situation.
“This was an extremely dangerous situation you created,” Berrien County Trial Judge Angela Pasula said. “You put everyone inside the school in danger. You made a choice to bring a loaded handgun to school … You ran from police and threw the gun away where a child could have picked it up. You resisted police and refused to obey their orders.”
Bradbury told the judge that he found the gun the weekend before, put it in his book bag and then forgot to take it out before he went to school.
Pasula said she was troubled by Bradbury’s past juvenile record as well as the fact he also had bullets and a BB gun in his locker at school that looked like a real gun. “Your criminal history is extremely disturbing,” she said as she listed convictions including criminal mischief, robbery, armed robbery, assault, escape and trespassing.
“I appreciate that this is your first adult conviction and the court often gives youth the privilege of probation, but your behavior was not an anomaly or new behavior,” she said. “This behavior is rather routine and perhaps habitual for you. You don’t shy away from using handguns and assaultive behavior against others.”
In another sentencing, a South Bend woman who served as the getaway driver in a series of home invasions was sentenced to prison.
Sarah Michelle Walter, 28, of Carrol Street in South Bend, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree home invasion and was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 29 months to 15 years in prison. She has credit for 53 days already served. Restitution will be determined at a later date.
The incidents occurred last fall at homes on South 13th and South 15th Streets in Niles Township in which her accomplice stole handguns, jewelry, Xbox games and a drone.
Assistant Prosecutor Cortney O’Malley-Septoski said Walter and her ex-husband went on a “drug-fueled crime spree” in both southern Michigan and northern Indiana as they broke into several homes.
Her ex-husband is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Indiana and is expected to be returned to Michigan at some point to face charges here. Walter also faces charges in Indiana.