Parents of teenager who allegedly brought a loaded gun to school are accused of hiding evidence

The parents of a Missouri teenager who allegedly brought a gun to school were charged Thursday. Authorities said the two adults hid the boy's backpack filled with ammunition in his mother's home after arresting their son.

Terry Thompson and Traci Thompson were identified by several local news outlets as the parents of the teenager taken into custody Tuesday after police accused him of planning shootings at several schools in the Ritenour School District.

A St. Ann Police spokesperson confirmed to HuffPost that the suspect is 16 years old and is not a current student in the Ritenour School District.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by HuffPost, both parents were charged in a criminal case with tampering with evidence.

St. Ann police said in a Facebook post on the St. Ann Neighborhood Watch page, an official police department account, that they received information Tuesday from the grandmother of another student that the 16-year-old had made threats against the Ritenour School District on social media.

According to police, the teenager was found with a loaded gun in one of the schools. As officers approached, he tried to flee and threw his weapon away.

According to NBC affiliate KSDK, he was arrested about a block from the school.

The parents were reportedly present when the teenager was arrested and, according to St. Ann police, went back to the father's house to retrieve their son's backpack filled with ammunition and hid it in the mother's house to conceal it during the police investigation.

“This could have led to a situation in Uvalde. And we prevented that from happening,” St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez told local news station KMOV after the arrest.

According to the source, police found a fully loaded Glock pistol with an extended magazine in a recycling bin near Husky Academy, an alternative school for grades 5 through 12.

After their son's arrest, the parents were taken into custody on outstanding warrants and authorities executed a search warrant for both homes, according to St. Ann police.

According to police, the 16-year-old's backpack, which was found in his mother's house, contained “several high-capacity magazines and ammunition.”

According to police, the teenager is still in juvenile detention. His parents' criminal complaint states that he is charged with making terroristic threats at a high school, illegal use of a weapon and resisting arrest.

The parents are scheduled to appear in St. Louis District Court on Sept. 27 to discuss a bail reduction. Court records do not list an attorney representing them.