Crown Point
Firearm, drug paraphernalia in car at high school
Police have charged an 18-year-old Crown Point High School student after finding a relative’s handgun in her car at the high school Friday, according to court documents.
Kayla Love Apking told police she took the weapon to protect herself against a relative’s “violent” girlfriend, according to court documents.
After principals were tipped to an Instagram post that “referenced a firearm,” police searched Apking’s car, where they found the gun in a center console, and two bottles of vodka, marijuana brownies and a marijuana grinder elsewhere in the vehicle, according to charging documents.
Apking, of Cedar Lake, is charged with carrying a handgun without a license, a level 5 felony; illegal possession of an alcoholic beverage and possession of paraphernalia, both class C misdemeanors.
Around 2:30 p.m. Feb. 22, an assistant principal asked two police officers patrolling at the high school to find out if Apking had a gun after learning about the social media post, according to documents.
When brought to the officers, Apking denied having a weapon at school but said she owned an AR-15, which was kept at her father’s house in Hebron, according to documents. She gave permission to officers to search her car, according to charging documents.
Police found a 9mm handgun with one bullet, according to documents.
She was arrested and later taken to the Lake County Jail.
Apking told officers the gun belonged to a relative, police said. She took it off a nightstand the evening of Feb. 21 and had no intention to take it to school or hurt anyone there, according to documents.
She took the gun because another relative’s girlfriend was back around his house, records show. Apking claimed the woman had been violent previously and she “needed to protect herself from her if need be,” according to court documents.
The Instagram post was unrelated, she said. The caption included “when I pull up the strap,” from a rap lyric, Apking told police.
She denied knowing how the alcohol or marijuana paraphernalia got into her car, stating she often gives rides in the mornings to other students, according to documents.
Online court records show a $945 bond was posted Feb. 25. An attorney was not yet listed.
Her first court date was not yet scheduled.
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