19-year-old arrested for firing shots on Dayton middle school grounds

Surveillance footage from May 31 at Edwin Joel Brown Middle School in Dayton. Authorities allege the man in the photo possessed and fired a pistol in a school zone. CONTRIBUTED

Surveillance footage from May 31 at Edwin Joel Brown Middle School in Dayton. Authorities allege the man in the photo possessed and fired a pistol in a school zone. CONTRIBUTED

Authorities have arrested a teenager who they say fired a gun last month while in a parking lot at Edwin Joel Brown Middle School in Dayton.

Timur Housum, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives earlier this month filed a criminal complaint in federal court against Jacob Ruff Jr. that alleges he illegally possessed and discharged a firearm in a school zone.

Ruff, 19, was arrested May 31 by Dayton police following a disturbance call at Waymire Avenue in northwest Dayton, says Housum’s affidavit in support of a criminal complaint. Ruff is incarcerated in the Miami County Jail.

Police officers attempted to detain Ruff, but he fled, and they deployed Tasers during his arrest, the affidavit states.

Officers allegedly discovered a firearm in his fanny pack that they confirmed was stolen after running its serial number, the affidavit states.

Jacob Ruff Jr.

Credit: Miami County Jail

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Credit: Miami County Jail

Authorities said they test fired the pistol and discovered the casing matched a .40 caliber shell casing recovered from the May 12 shots fired incident at Edwin Joel Brown Middle School at 31 Willowwood Drive.

At about 7:55 p.m. May 12, Dayton police were dispatched to the school in north Dayton after receiving a report of gunshots being fired.

A caller indicated that a male was firing a gun and four males got into an orange Cadillac and drove off, the affidavit states.

Officers said surveillance video footage showed that people were firing guns in the school parking lot toward the school playground.

Police said the first shots were fired by a juvenile, but they allege Ruff then produced a firearm and fired gunshots toward the playground as well.

Officers located five .40 caliber shell casings in the school parking lot.

Special Agent Housum in his affidavit said there is sufficient probable cause to believe that Ruff possessed a pistol with ammunition and discharged it with reckless disregard for the safety of others in a place that he knew was a school zone.

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