17yo MD Student Arrested for Ghost Gun School Shooting (Video)

Steven Alston Jr., a Magruder High school student is charged with attempted murder after he allegedly shot a 15-year-old boy inside one of the school's bathrooms just after noon on Friday with a ‘ghost gun’. Alston, an 11th grader, was charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony/violent crime, possession of a dangerous weapon on school property, and possession of a firearm by a minor. (Courtesy of YouTube)
Steven Alston Jr., a Magruder High school student is charged with attempted murder after he allegedly shot a 15-year-old boy inside one of the school's bathrooms just after noon on Friday with a ‘ghost gun’. Alston, an 11th grader, was charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony/violent crime, possession of a dangerous weapon on school property, and possession of a firearm by a minor. (Courtesy of YouTube)

A 17-year-old Magruder High School Student is in custody following a shooting at the school on Friday, January 21, 2022.

At approximately 1 p.m., Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) were called to the high school located on Muncaster Mill Road in Rockville, when a 15-year-old male student was discovered inside a student bathroom by school security with a gunshot wound.

Montgomery County Fire Rescue responded to the school and provided medical assistance to the student, who was transported to an area hospital in serious condition.

(A male student is hospitalized after being shot at Magruder High School in Rockville, Maryland. Courtesy of WUSA9 and YouTube. Posted Jan 21, 2021.)

The school went into a full lockdown at 1:05 p.m. and the building was secured.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s department, along with agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), assisted patrol in securing and searching the building.

MCPD detectives worked simultaneously to investigate leads and identified a suspect.

The suspect, Steven Alston Jr., an 11th grade Magruder student, was located inside a classroom and taken into custody shortly after 3 p.m.

A privately manufactured firearm (ghost gun) was found inside the school, which is believed to be the gun used by Alston, Jr.

During the course of the investigation, detectives determined that the incident involved Alston, Jr. and the victim, a 10th grade Magruder student. There is no evidence to suggest that Alston, Jr. was targeting anyone else within the school.

Steven Alston Jr. has been charged with Attempted 2nd Degree Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony/Violent Crime, Possession of a Dangerous Weapon on School Property, and Possession of a Firearm by a Minor.

He is being charged as an adult. This is an active and ongoing investigation.

The victim is in an area hospital and listed in critical condition. Alston Jr. is being held without bond.

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Intrado Corporation Named a Multi-Award Winner in 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program

2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon (starting front row, left to right) SIMS Software President & CEO Michael Struttmann; TENEO Risk Advisory Executive Chairman Commissioner Bill Bratton; NEC National Security Systems President Dr. Kathleen Kiernan; TSA Administrator David Pekoske; Fortior Solutions General Counsel Katherine Cowan; NEC Corporation of America Senior Vice President & Chief Experience Officer Raffie Beroukhim; TENEO Risk Advisory Chief of Staff David Cagno; Infragard National Board Member Doug Farber, Lumina Analytics Co-Founder & Chairman Allan Martin, and AMAROK Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing Mike Dorrington.
2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon (starting front row, left to right) SIMS Software President & CEO Michael Struttmann; TENEO Risk Advisory Executive Chairman Commissioner Bill Bratton; NEC National Security Systems President Dr. Kathleen Kiernan; TSA Administrator David Pekoske; Fortior Solutions General Counsel Katherine Cowan; NEC Corporation of America Senior Vice President & Chief Experience Officer Raffie Beroukhim; TENEO Risk Advisory Chief of Staff David Cagno; Infragard National Board Member Doug Farber, Lumina Analytics Co-Founder & Chairman Allan Martin, and AMAROK Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing Mike Dorrington.

Intrado Corporation (First of Two)

Best Risk, Crisis Management Solution

    • As students return to on-campus learning and as safety threats continue to evolve, schools across North America are leveraging Intrado’s trusted solutions for school safety management to manage risks and strengthen their crisis response capabilities.

  • Intrado Safety Suite is an unrivaled set of tools designed to help schools address safety threats from every angle. It is made up of three best-in-class solutions that are powerful on their own but even stronger when used together. The suite helps schools take a complete and integrated approach to safety threat response.

(See how the Intrado Safety Suite can create safer environments for students, faculty, and parents by providing an end-to-end solution to manage safety events from incident detection all the way to resolution. Courtesy of Intrado and YouTube.)

Intrado Corporation (Second of Two)

Best IT Disaster Preparedness & Recovery Solution

  • Operations at educational institutions can be disrupted by situations like natural disasters, structure fires, school violence, campus vandalism, and more. Intrado Safety Suite was created to help schools address the disaster preparedness and recovery challenges such events bring about.

  • Intrado Safety Suite is made up of three unique solutions: Intrado Safety Shield (for end-to-end emergency response management), Intrado Revolution (for on-campus communication management), and SchoolMessenger Communicate (for mass notification).

  • Intrado Safety Shield allows for end-to-end disaster response management, enabling schools to digitize emergency operations plans and data, provide guidance to staff on response tasks, enhance situational awareness, achieve faster and more accurate emergency dispatch, and much more.

Intrado offers a comprehensive set of tools to help you prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from almost any kind of safety threat.
  • Intrado Revolution allows technology leaders to operate on-campus communications endpoints such as digital signage, strobe lights, speakers, sirens, bell systems, and much more from one interface to direct students and staff to safety in evacuation situations.

  • SchoolMessenger Communicate is the most tested and trusted school notification system in North America, with a long track record of helping schools communicate successfully in crisis situations.

  • In addition, Intrado technology helps process more than 90% of 911 calls across North America and serves more than 63,000 K-12 and higher education institutions. With more than 20+ years of experience in education and 40+ years of experience in public safety, Intrado has a pedigree that no one else in education can match.

  • *Intrado was also a Multiple-Award Winner in the 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Awards Programs.

The Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards highlight the most cutting-edge and forward-thinking security solutions coming onto the market today, to ensure our readers have the information they need to stay ahead of the competition and keep our Nation safe – one facility, street, and city at a time.

Thomas Richardson, FDNY Chief of Department; Dr. Kathleen Kiernan, President of NEC National Security Systems; and Richard Blatus, FDNY Assistant Chief of Operations at the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon at ISC East.

AST Honors Thomas Richardson, FDNY Chief of Department; Dr. Kathleen Kiernan, President of NEC National Security Systems; and Richard Blatus, FDNY Assistant Chief of Operations, at the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon at ISC East.

The United States was forever changed 20 years ago on September 11th, and we were fortunate to have many of those who responded to those horrific tragedies join us at the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon.

In the days that followed 9/11, the critical needs of protecting our country catapulted us into new and innovative ways to secure our homeland – which is how many of the agencies and enterprise organizations that are today ‘ASTORS’ Awards Champions, came into being.

Our keynote speaker TSA Administrator David Pekoske delivered a moving and timely address on the strategic priorities of the 64,000 member TSA workforce in securing the transportation system, enabling safe, and in many cases, contactless travel, and more (Be sure to see Interview.)
TSA Administrator David Pekoske addressing attendees at the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon in New York City on November 17, 2021. (Be sure to see AST Exclusive Interview, facilitated by Dr. Kathleen Kiernan HERE.)

Our keynote speaker featured a moving and informative address from TSA Administrator and Vice-Admiral of the United States Coast Guard (Ret), David Pekoske; to our attendees who traveled from across the United States and abroad, on the strategic priorities of the 64,000 member TSA workforce in securing the transportation system, enabling safe, and in many cases, contactless travel.

Commissioner Bill Bratton signing copies of his latest work, ‘The Profession: A Memoir of Community, Race, and the Arc of Policing in America,’ at the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Presentation Luncheon. (Be sure to see AST Exclusive Interview with Comm Bratton, facilitated by Dr. Kathleen Kiernan HERE.)

Legendary Police Commissioner William Bratton of the New York Police Department, the Boston Police Department, and former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department was also live at the event, meeting with attendees and signing copies of his latest work ‘The Profession: A Memoir of Community, Race, and the Arc of Policing in America,’ courtesy of the generosity of our 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Premier Sponsors.

The 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program was Proudly Sponsored by AMAROK, Fortior Solutions and SIMS Software, along with Returning Premier Sponsors ATI SystemsAttivo Networks, Automatic Systems, and Reed Exhibitions.

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AST puts forward the Largest and Most Qualified Circulation in Government with Over 75,000 readers on the Federal, State and Local levels.
AST puts forward the Largest and Most Qualified Circulation in Government with Over 75,000 readers on the Federal, State and Local levels.

AST Digital Publications are distributed to over 75,000 qualified government and homeland security professionals, in federal, state, local, and private security sectors.

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AST Reaches both Private & Public Experts, essential to meeting these new challenges.

Today’s new generation of public safety and security experts need real-time knowledge to deal with domestic and international terrorism, lone wolf attacks, unprecedented urban violence, shifts in society, culture, and media bias – making it increasingly difficult for Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, First Responders, Military and Private Security Professionals to implement coordinated security measures to ensure national security and improve public safety.

American Security Today

These experts are from Government at the federal, state, and local level as well as from private firms allied to the government.

AST provides a full plate of topics in our AST Monthly Magazine Editions, AST Website, and AST Daily News Alerts, covering 23 Vital Sectors such as Access Control, Perimeter Protection, Video Surveillance/Analytics, Airport Security, Border Security, CBRNE Detection, Border Security, Ports, Cybersecurity, Networking Security, Encryption, Law Enforcement, First Responders, Campus Security, Security Services, Corporate Facilities, and Emergency Response among others.

AST has Expanded readership into integral Critical Infrastructure audiences such as Protection of Nuclear Facilities, Water Plants & Dams, Bridges & Tunnels, and other potential targets of terrorism.

Other areas of concern include Transportation Hubs, Public Assemblies, Government Facilities, Sporting & Concert Stadiums, our Nation’s Schools & Universities, and Commercial Business Destinations – all enticing targets due to the large number of persons and resources clustered together.

(See just a few highlights of American Security Today’s 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Presentation Luncheon at ISC East. Courtesy of My Pristine Images and Vimeo.)

To learn more about ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Award Winners solutions, be on the lookout for the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ CHAMPIONS Edition Fully Interactive Magazine – the Best Products of 2021 ‘A Year in Review’.

The Annual CHAMPIONS edition includes a review of Annual ‘ASTORS’ Award Winning products and programs, highlighting key details on many of the winning firm’s products and services, including video interviews and more.

For example, please see the AST 2020 CHAMPIONS Edition.

It will serve as your Go-To Source throughout the year for ‘The Best of 2021 Products and Services‘ endorsed by American Security Today, and can satisfy your agency’s and/or organization’s most pressing Homeland Security and Public Safety needs.

From Physical Security (Access Control, Critical Infrastructure, Perimeter Protection, and Video Surveillance Cameras and Video Management Systems), to IT Security (Cybersecurity, Encryption, Data Storage, Anti-Malware and Networking Security – Just to name a few), the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ CHAMPIONS EDITION will have what you need to Detect, Delay, Respond to, and Mitigate today’s real-time threats in our constantly evolving security landscape.

It will also include featured guest editorial pieces from some of the security industry’s most respected leaders, and recognized firms in the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program.

  • For a complete list of 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Award Winners, begin HERE.

For more information on All Things American Security Today, as well as the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program, please contact Michael Madsen, AST Publisher at mmadsen@americansecuritytoday.com.

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