A Norristown boy took his mother’s gun to school in his backpack, police said

Last year, a Norristown drug dealer paid a customer to buy him several guns, illegally trading narcotics for the weapons, investigators said Wednesday. One of those guns was recovered earlier this month — in the backpack of a 6-year-old who police said took the pistol and some bullets onto the school bus to show his friends.

Now, that boy’s mother is facing criminal charges in what prosecutors in Montgomery County say was a frighteningly close call.

Jasmin Devlin, 30, was arrested last week and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment for allowing her two sons access to a 9mm handgun that police say she kept loaded and unlocked in her Norristown apartment. She will likely later face additional charges for possessing the illegal gun.

» READ MORE: A Glenside man, working with his brothers, oversaw a three-county ring that traded drugs for guns, DA says

“This incident is a frightening reminder of the fact that children can and do find unsecured firearms in a home, and they play with them,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a statement. “Thankfully, these young boys were not shot or injured in their home, and no one was shot or injured at school thanks to the quick action by school personnel.”

Devlin did not return a request for comment Wednesday, and there was no indication she had hired an attorney.

Investigators learned about the gun last week, when a group of students at Joseph K. Gotwals Elementary School told teachers at the school that Devlin’s 6-year-old son was showing off “a real gun with bullets,” according to the affidavit of probable cause for Devlin’s arrest.

Inside the boy’s backpack was a 9mm Jimenez Arms handgun and eight live rounds, the affidavit said. The boy told police he and his 10-year-old brother found the gun in their mother’s bedroom dresser the night before while looking for a laptop charger.

» READ MORE: A Southwest Philly street gang burglarized three gun stores, stealing nearly 100 guns, DA says

He said his brother unloaded the gun, pointed it at him, then pulled the trigger and pretended to shoot him. That frightened him, he told the officers, because he worried that there might still be bullets in the gun..

Later that night, the 6-year-old said, he was awakened by a bad dream and went to get the gun. He hid it in his backpack, where it stayed until the next morning when he took it to school, according to the affidavit.

Detectives in Norristown said they recognized the handgun as connected to a straw-purchasing operation in the county.

In March, Joseph Rudnitskas, 33, was charged with illegal sale or transfer of firearms and related crimes after he admitted buying four handguns for someone in exchange for marijuana, ecstasy, and cocaine.

Rudnitskas told detectives he purchased the guns for a drug dealer he knew only as “Play,” according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. The gun that eventually ended up in Devlin’s apartment was purchased in December 2021 from Treeline Sports in West Norriton, along with three other, similar handguns, the affidavit said.

It’s unclear how Devlin came to possess the gun after Rudnitskas gave it to “Play.”

Rudnitskas’ criminal trial is pending, according to court records.