Editor’s Note: This story was updated on October 8, 2026, to replace an earlier yearbook photograph of Jaheem Wright with a more recent booking photograph taken when he was 18 years old. The booking photograph was obtained after the original publication of this story.
A 16-year-old Kenosha high-schooler might avoid the adult criminal justice system. Jaheem Wright, 16, of Kenosha, was charged with Felony Terroristic Threats, Felony Possession of a Firearm On School Grounds, Carrying a Concealed Weapon, and Minor Possession of a Dangerous Weapon.
The Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office asked Judge Chad Kerkman to send the case to adult court, where Wright would face a lengthy prison sentence. Instead, Kerkman ordered a competency evaluation and postponed the case until next month. The case remains in a secret, juvenile court.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
If the case stays in juvenile court, Wright would face little to no punishment. Allegedly, Wright made a social media post in which he “snapped” and said something to the effect of “I’m going to take care of business.” He posted a photo of a firearm on social media.
At least two Kenosha Police officers missed the gun that Wright was carrying inside Indian Trail and Academy. The gun was later found near his crotch.
Kenosha Police said the following of Wright:
“On Monday, 12/02/24, around 10:30 AM the school resource officer at Indian Trail High School and Academy in Kenosha received information that a SnapChat photograph was circulating which showed a 16-year-old ITA student (10TH Grade) possessing a firearm. An investigation immediately began with the SRO and school officials. The student was quickly located and escorted to an office to be searched. The student was arrested at the school and transported to the police department. He was charged with one count of each of the following: Terrorist Threats-Public Panic or Fear; Possession of a firearm on grounds of a school; carrying a concealed weapon; and possession of dangerous weapon by minor. The student is currently detained in a juvenile detention facility awaiting the next court hearing.
The investigation later revealed that the student did in fact have a firearm concealed in a sensitive area. The manner in which the firearm was concealed made it very difficult for the initial officers to locate. The Kenosha Police Department is conducting an internal review of the incident to determine if any policy violations and/or training issues exist.”
KCE decided to name Wright in case Kerkman keeps the proceedings secret.
103 Responses
I see him following the rules, which limits the appeal options. We might criticize judges because we disagree with the sentence. A good measure of our judges is how many of their cases are overturned. Kenosha cases aren’t regularly overturned l.
WRONG. You can be very weak on sentencing and that won’t get you overturned on appeal. That sure as fuck doesn’t mean you are a good judge.
Nice post, Chad.
ITA is turning into another Racine Park, Case, Horlick with there being 1 common denominator.
What’s the 1 common denominator? You can say what you’re thinking here bro.
I just knew it was a black kid. Skittles, college , good boy , yada yada. He has a bright future.
Bingo!!!!
100%
*say the obvious out loud
what does him being black have to do with anything? the kid that went to Roosevelt was white & intentions were to actually threaten the kids
This isn’t a race issue. The Roosevelt kid was white. Let’s take the color out of it and focus on the safety of our kids.
Don’t worry all the old racist white people love to talk tough on this website but they will NEVER EVER SAY IT to your face even if the Roosevelt kid was white they will still defend him just because he’s white ….. racist pricks
Well he’s not an adult so it would make sense he seems hesitant. That decision needs to be weighed carefully. Adults make different decisions and have different consequences. There has to be a cut off somewhere.
Yet he can become a woman because “he’s old enough to make that decision”.
You CAN NOT have it both ways. Current law says a 17 year old can be charged as an adult. If he actually killed someone, you wouldn’t want him tried as an adult? That’s asinine.
That’s my point he’s not 17. He is 16 therefore he is a child. You can’t just randomly choose certain kids to try as an adult. He never hurt anyone, although he should be held accountable for what he did under the current law.
And for the record, he should not be able to choose if he’s a girl or not that’s stupid
not all people off the same age have the same maturity
*of
A 17 year old is also a child. You’re not an adult until you are 18. So he has to hurt someone before you charge him as an adult? Way to go in hope it’s your family he hurts.
He’s not 17. He’s 16. The law is already written to deal with minors who commit crimes. Why does this particular minor need to be treated as an adult? And yes, generally when victims are injured or some other aggravating factor needs to be present to move it to adult court. And I have no family except pain and misery.
16 or 17 regardless you don’t need to be an adult to know you’re not suppose to take a gun to school. And on top of that threats?? Be fuckn for real. At least you won’t be hurt then I guess
It doesn’t matter how old you are…you can’t “choose” to be a boy or a girl. You are what you were born as.
He needs to be held accountable for his actions He needs to be in adult court .
Why? He’s not an adult. You can’t just pick some crimes to tries an adult just because. He either is or he isn’t.
Actually, picking and choosing is exactly what all judges do for this age
He had a gun right? You have to be an adult to own a gun. So obviously try him as an adult.
These “kids” nowadays are more grown in mentality(sexually, dress, decisions, taking care of themselves because of trash parents, etc).
This is a no brainer and the judge shouldn’t let the political eye change his decision.
Kids aren’t more grown, they’re just doing a lot more things that only should be done by those that are grown. That said, I have no problems with society retaliating by doing sentencing things that match those for ones who have grown up. Do the crime do the time, this guy thinks he’s a badass thug who can take care of things with his gun. Lock him up for a while, before he takes care of something with a gun.
He wants to “be grown”… well, here ya go. Be an adult and go to prison.
12 – 16 year olds are out all night with guns, drugs and stolen cars. Do you think a month in Juve will cure them… or just learn better tricks and make new criminal contacts?
Do you think that every single case should always be tried as an adult? Always?
Absolutely! Something this serious needs to have consequences. He could have killed many students
Either as a society we take loaded guns in school Seriously, or we don’t. Not sure if you’re aware, we just had a scholl shooting in WI last month where students were killed. This person was threatening other kids VIA social media at school, with a loaded gun Gary…..
Oh Gary, what do you have against school safety bro?
No. Got any more stupid questions? Nobody is saying that every single case blah blah blah blah blah
THIS CASE however, makes him the poster child for being tried as an adult. Attitude, premeditation deadly weapon. Into the corn!
More importantly, where are the parents? Where gun come from? Parents should hold some responsibility in this and this will keep awareness of what your child is doing on a day to day basis. We gotta do better…. Schools use to be a safe haven now it’s running the streets!!!!
I think parents should be charged if they are found at fault. This would help prevent alot of these cases!
This gun smells like shit .
Where are the parents?? His last name is Wright, I’m guessing they’re not at their full time jobs.
Chad should worry about this kid in school with his iwn kids. Yeah they are older now but really, why would Chad forget that schools are gun free zones yet this kid knew how to hide a gun that police missed. Too familiar with guns. This kid needs to be in adult court. So sad on how uyou gave turn out chad
How much did the metal detectors cost that were just installed inside the public safety building ?They were bought because the records workers were upset/scared about being in the room with this armed suspect that the gun wasn’t found.
I’d love to see to redacted report and bodycam of the searches.
And why doesn’t KUSD have these same metal detectors?
As an employee in the PSB, there are not metal detectors. When the building was under attack from rioters, Records staff took shelter on an upper floor.
With regards to the topic of rhe Juvenile, he needs to be held accountable for his actions. There also needs to be accountability to whomever provided him with access to a gun.
And lets not forget, intake court is open to the public and within a matter of seconds there could be a serious situation in there if someone’s loved one doesn’t get a good bond.. There is no metal detectors preventing people from bringing anything in.. you can post signs all you want about it being gun free zone. People don’t care!
the child needs to be held accountable and raising competency is the cop out.. he was competent enough to hide a gun… in a school… come on
Look around, they’re new
The metal detectors look very similar to the robot machines that have the bright light going through the aisles at woodmans disinfecting items.
They’re 6 feet tall, silver, with a green light on top.
You may be right about the metal detector, but the robot thing at Woodman’s does inventory. (some employees do, too, but the robot helps significantly.)
Who gives a fuck.
That fucking robot needs to be disassembled and have its circuits checked that patrols Woodman’s! Its job is to do inventory. They’ve been out of many products for many months.
h
There is a new metal detector in the hall by records.
Try his ass an adult and permanently expel him from all KUSD schools. You commit big boy crimes you pay big boy consequences.
Charge him as a juvenile, we never find out where he got the gun from, the leverage is charge as an adult to find out where this gun came from let’s start there. JMO
Was there a punishment for officers or write up for missing the gun? My neighbor’s kid was in the ISS room with this kid after he was searched and still had the gun. This room is supervised by a hall monitor basically, and has 2 doors that you can leave right into the hallway I am told.
So the kid was searched by the one officer there, then put into a room with several students. Then the student with the gun went unsupervised by the one cop in the building for how long? This was a huge, dangerous mistake. Where is the accountability???????? Guy with gun making threats to students who posted picture on social media of his gun at school was searched, then placed into an unsecured room with other kids that had 2 doors to leave from. WOW.
We all got to see the Applebees body camera footage, we all deserve to see this body camera footage too. Blur the face of the suspect, show the officers and their hands and searches.
KUSD- be transparent, stop hiding behind FERPA. You can release a play by play of what happened and when, just omit any names of students. You guys are asking us for another $100,000,000 soon. Show us that you actually serve our children and communities.
Why don’t they have them walk through a detector like when you enter a courthouse???
Thanks Kennedy.
I wonder what charge Kerkman would approve if someone snuck a loaded gun into the courthouse and was posting threats to people inside the courthouse online that same day??
Kerkman wants to “keep an eye” on him.
Until they prosecute these kids, they will all think it is a joke and continue!!!!
Why not withold judgment until the decision is made?
A careful judicial review and mental examination will protect the adult charges if they are appealed.
Ya. Real mental when he posted about doing it. That’s called pre meditation. Quit thinking every time a kid does something it’s mental! It’s parenting and lack of the respect for laws!
He knows he was wrong, he hid the gun. If he thought it was “ok” to have, he wouldn’t have hidden it.
Not surprising coming from a feminized Liberal judge that never had any real Balls.
Judges balls slaps the ass of his boyfriend.
We’re gonna need to see proof of this, don’t be wasting time with a bunch of fallacious ball slapping.
They sure were pretty fast to charge Martel Lee as an adult based on no eveidence, only words from someone that changed his story, and was totally unreliable as a witness.
Exactly! Now this kid with a gun gets some sort of treatment. Kenosha is fucked up.
America is fucked
There’s always Greenland
How can someone (or two people) miss a gun that big when they know it’s there???? Maybe they train differently in the academy now since I’ve retired.
Probably because he hid it along with the package and wears big, baggy, low jeans? The article said it was in a sensitive spot.
If you’re searching for a gun, you manipulate the clothing so you are able to tell if there’s a weapon anywhere on the outside of the body. Between the cheeks for sure, but u on lift and separate the scrotum because a weapon wouldn’t fit behind the scrotum(of a normal male).
If he could act all tough with a gun he should be charged like an adult. Simple as that.
If this was the Kenosha Liberal News, he would have been in a baseball uniform or a nice suit for that picture.
I think Kerkman made the right decision. The minor is “being evaluated” before the decision is made. People that age usually do not have a fully developed cererbral cortex, the part of the brain that enables an individual to make reasoned decisions; that’s a major part of being “mature” and a reason for being a legal minor until age 18.
He knew he had to “hide” the gun that he k we was illegal to have though. That’s a willful conscious decision, and it shows he was intentionally avoiding being caught with it.
Of course he knows he shouldn’t have it, so he hid it. Yet he posted it on instagram. It’s a great example of what I was talking about. You people should look up “cerebral cortex” and brain development in adolescents before you speak out of ignorance. I’ll guarantee you that “Gary” knows exactly what I’m talking about, and it’s why Judge Kerkman has referred him for evaluation. I stand by what I said.
The Medulla Oblongata is why you’re so ornery
All them teeth and no toothbrush.
It could be a soggy cerebellum.
Just sayen .
This evaluation, is there any chance of faking or cheating? Just curious
Lol @ trying to make the case that a 16 yr old doesn’t know what a gun will do because their cerebral cortex. Clown
It was Thhhpinal (picture mike tyson)🤣
Ok Gary P
So you would risk him going back to school and doing this again?? That will show him! He knew what he was doing actions have consequences!
More info on cop or cops that missed gun?
Well, considering the primary officer (SRO) got this position with 18 months on the department, even though the policy since the 90s was to even be considered to Be a school resource officer or any special assignment was 5 years on kpd.
I’d say chief Patton needs to
Explain what was “so special” about this officer that he waived the requirements, which now we all know ended up with an inexperienced officer being placed in the position, and failing like all his coworkers knew would happen. This caused every student there into harms way.
Chief Patton also made him a taser instructor with basically no use of force experience for some reason. Although I’m sure everyone can figure it out if they ponder it for a few seconds…
Don’t worry Patton, you’ll get your DEI accreditation you desperately desire probably. Even though it will deplete the morale of the whole department, and put questionable picks into places they aren’t qualified for, causing liability for the department.
Fret not, many many more exposures to come soon. The culture and climate of the kpd for the last 20 Years is going to be exposed over the coming months and months with specifics. My suggestion is all the infallible employees in administration get ahead of this, and self report.
There is a group of employees that are planning on reporting “non compliant use of force” by kpd administrators under statute 175.44(3). They’ll be released slowly and deliberately, unless administration mandates all employees report all unreported excessive use of force by Kpd administration by a certain date (retroactive).
So it’s time for KPD Administration to “Rise”, and admit to any excessive force they’ve committed while employed by kpd, or any they’ve witnessed.l that was not documented and investigated. We all know u remember these Instances, and you lecture current employees on how to not act how admin did and got promoted to the top. Laughable yet sad. So I if you have never punched a compliant handcuffed person (and you’re a supervisor) I guess don’t worry. If you have, I suggest you come forward before you are exposed for what you did and to whom. Maybe you choked a suicidal person in KMH er room 1 (who was defenseless and leather restrained to The bed), and stuffed their undergarments in their mouth….. if this is you, I’d self report so you don’t have to respond to the leak. The guy who
Got his mouth stuffed with his dirty underwear is very willing to Be deposed and recalls the civil rights violation.. they even have a disclosure witness.
Rise,rise,rise. Come clean, or it may get messy. MLK DAY would bow a great day to release all these circumstances, unless certain people act like a man and come clean
You sound like a kpd employee who couldn’t get a promotion so now you wanna throw everybody under the bus.
There are quite a few top dogs who could get crushed by that bus. These leaders who committed crimes as a normal part of their past work should be outed. Hypocrites are among the worst type of people. I hope the Rise movement is successful. It could be part of the documentary.
Good luck to this guy getting promoted. He didn’t get promoted before he’s not gonna get promoted by telling others business. He knows damn well he’s done shady stuff as well. That’s why he doesn’t get promoted
Looking back at KPD Bell case closed in days, another ex chief with fake degree now city power broker plus chiefs that did nothing great leadership?
There is a rumor that Netflix has started work on a multi-part documentary on the Bell case and the failures of those in power to deal with the many problems in that case and other cases. If this rumor is true, it will make Kenosha look like a corrupt southern backwater. It may also cause the players in these alleged despicable acts to start turning on each other.
Maybe the Rise Movement knows this. It will be interesting to watch this play out.
Hope this happens, Kenosha needs to be cleaned up and watch the rats run!
I would love to pick up this piece at an auction😍
Typical black
Free my dawg 💯
He looks on the spectrum, your homie needs special education.
Actually, let’s all just keep it real…..I hope they keep him out of jail. With his big mouth, I set the over/under on 3 years before he mouths off to the wrong “homie” and then they are picking his splattered brains off the ground.
What about the white kid who tried to shoot Roosevelt elementary? Why isn’t he being tried as an adult ?
Exactly- don’t even get me started on white people. Worst thing to happen to this country since the ice age…
White people? LOL I wish one thing, the founding fathers took the advice of James Madison and used the proceeds from the land we stole from the native Americans and sent you all back to Africa.
Shoot up a school with an airsoft gun? Different set of circumstances, but both should be tried as adults and permanently expelled from public schools. Make the parents pay for their private education, maybe that will teach the deadbeat parents to be more of a parent to their kids.
Was Chad running late for his date with Banger? I mean Binger? Out on Walworth?
Wow with all of the wannabe lawyers in here. If competency is raised it has to be addressed and has nothing to do with kerkman. It’s the law.
Just let him free, in 5 years he will kill someone. It’s almost like we’ve seen that happen before.
Good luck to this guy getting promoted. He didn’t get promoted before he’s not gonna get promoted by telling others business. He knows damn well he’s done shady stuff as well. That’s why he doesn’t get promoted
The fact that them clowns are backing him because he’s a juvenile is proof they are nuts. U til someone hurts your family you will sing a different tune. Advocate for these minors? Who brought loaded gun to a high school? The same idiots that cry for stronger gun laws want this kid saved! Fucken idiots. Their pages show how ignorant they are as well.