A 13-year-old Toronto boy thought he'd start high school by showing off a 200,000-volt stun gun to his classmates, police say.
The weapon was seized in the presence of the boy's parents and the school principal, and authorities, who didn't appreciate the display of show-and-tell, arrested him.
Police were called to St. Mary's Catholic School, located in the Dufferin and Bloor Streets area, on Wednesday by someone who spotted the stun gun.
Police arrested the suspect after investigating the anonymous tip.
The cost of the seized stun gun runs around US$15. Although the weapon is illegal, it can easily be bought over the internet.
The particular model the suspect was carrying is four times more powerful than the stun guns police carry, CTV's Jim Junkin reported.
According to a description on eBay, where there are several stun guns on sale, the product can disable a person for several minutes.
"(It's) self defense device which disrupts the message the brain sends to the voluntary muscles," the description says. "Simply touching an attacker with a stun gun for three to five seconds will deliver a high voltage shock causing loss of balance and muscle control, confusion, and disorientation bringing him to his knees and making him incapable of further aggressive activity. Full recovery takes about five to ten minutes and there is no permanent harm."
A member of Toronto's Catholic school board said they haven't considered putting metal detectors, which would have caught the weapon, into schools.
"It's not something we're looking into at this time, but we take every possible precaution in out schools to make them safe," Mary Jo Deighan said.
The boy, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice System because of his age, is charged with possessing a prohibited weapon.
He was released into the custody of his parents until his court date.
With a report from CTV's Jim Junkin
