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Student faces gun charge

Affidavit says AK-47, shotgun, handgun found on MC campus

By Kate York, kyork@mariettatimes.com
POSTED: February 7, 2008

Fact Box

Timeline of events
¯ 2:43 p.m. Monday – A parking enforcement officer spots the barrel of a shotgun in a Jeep Wrangler belonging to Marietta College student Robert L. Walker II, 22. The vehicle was parked in front of the Alpha Tau Omega House on Fourth Street, where Walker is a resident. Walker consents to a search of the car and three other guns and ammunition are discovered in cases.
¯ 8:25 p.m. Monday – An e-mail from Marietta College Dean of Students Lon Vickers informs students, faculty and staff of the situation. It says the student will be allowed to attend class.
¯ 10:30 p.m. Monday – After numerous calls by students to Vickers and the student body president, a meeting is organized at Andrews Hall with members of the school’s administration and more than 150 students. Students question the college’s response and whether they are safe; a member of the school’s Threat Assessment Team says Walker (whose name was not revealed at that point) will not be allowed on campus for at least three days. He also says he does not believe Walker posed a danger to anyone and was storing the guns in his vehicle.
¯ Tuesday – Walker is suspended from the college indefinitely following a disciplinary hearing with a conduct officer. Classes go on as scheduled but some students do not attend. College officials decline to release Walker’s name, saying the school’s private status exempts it from Freedom of Information Act requests.
¯ Wednesday – A summons is issued for Walker to appear in Marietta Municipal Court on a fourth-degree felony concealed weapons charge. Akron police search the home of Walker’s grandmother and find 15 other guns. While possession of the weapons is not illegal, one of them may have been modified to the point of being considered “dangerous ordnance,” which could result in another charge.

The Marietta College student suspended for bringing guns onto campus has been charged with a fourth-degree felony, and another charge could be coming after a search of his grandmother’s Akron home revealed more than a dozen other weapons.

A summons was issued for Robert L. Walker II, 22, by Marietta Municipal Court Wednesday on a concealed weapons charge. Walker is due in court at 9 a.m. Feb. 13.

Washington County Prosecutor Jim Schneider said there’s also the possibility of another charge, based on a search of the Akron home of Walker’s grandmother Wednesday.

According to the case’s affidavit of facts, the guns and ammunition found in Walker’s car on the college campus Monday included an AK-47, a Remington shotgun, a 9 mm handgun, loaded magazines, 1,771 assorted rounds of ammunition and parts to an AR-15.

“Officers found ammunition there that didn’t match any of those guns, leading them to think there were more somewhere else,” said Schneider. “His grandmother consented to a search of her house (by Akron police), and they found 15 other weapons of different kinds.”

Having those guns in the house breaks no laws, but one of the guns found there may be modified to the extent that it’s illegal to possess under Ohio law, Schneider said.

“Certain weapons when modified become what they call ‘dangerous ordnance,’ like guns with silencers or sawed-off shotguns,” he said. “It’s a crime to have a dangerous-ordnance gun. I’ve heard one of the weapons was confiscated and they’re checking with government firearms experts.”

Schneider said the concealed carry charge stems from where an assault rifle was found in Walker’s car, not the fact that the guns were in the car.

“It was unloaded but was in a box with a magazine right next to it, accessible to the driver,” he said. “It could have been accessed, loaded and used without the driver leaving the driver’s seat, and that’s the violation. To be legal, it would have needed to be stored somewhere inaccessible, like a trunk, where the driver would have to stop operating the vehicle to get to it.”

According to a report by campus police Officer Kelly Travaglio, the guns were found while Walker’s car was parked in front of the Alpha Tau Omega house, 211 Fourth St., where he lived.

Travaglio said a parking enforcement officer spotted what looked like the barrel of a shotgun in the Jeep Wrangler “in plain view.”

When contacted, Walker admitted to having several guns in the car and gave campus police Chief Howard Korn the key and consented to a search of his vehicle, the report says. The other guns found were in cases.

College officials have previously declined to comment on reports that Walker had also been investigated for weapons possession in the fall, but Travaglio’s report does mention previous contact, noting that Walker had been “told in previous dealings by Chief Korn not to have any firearms on Marietta College property (because) it was against college policy.”

Marietta College freshman Ben Williams, 19, said news of additional weapons was unnerving but he was trying not to jump to conclusions.

“I think the initial reaction here was fear and people are still a little nervous,” he said. “But as far as we know, he didn’t do anything violent, so I’m trying to just wait until everything comes out. I’ve heard people who’ve said he was weird and people that really liked him, so I don’t really know what to think. But I think the shock is wearing off here and people are calming down.”
 
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