Gun teen eyes freedom

DONTE WALKER, the teen arrested in January for smuggling a gun into a Philadelphia charter school before it was used to shoot two students, was sentenced yesterday to 6 to 23 months in jail followed by three years of probation.

The ruling by Common Pleas Judge Michael Erdos calls for Walker, 19, to be paroled from jail on July 5 and requires him to perform 30 hours of community service for each year he is on probation.

He pleaded guilty May 27 to carrying a firearm in public, possessing a weapon on school property and recklessly endangering another person.

Walker, who has been jailed since his arrest, was seen on surveillance video giving the gun to a male student in exchange for money on Jan. 17 at Delaware Valley Charter High School, on Old York Road near Duncannon Avenue in Logan.

Walker graduated from the school last year and was invited to speak to students as an alumnus on the day of the shooting.

Shortly after Walker supplied the gun it was used to shoot an 18-year-old female student in the left arm and a 17-year-old male student in the shoulder. The same bullet injured both students.

Delaware Valley student Raisheem Rochwell, 17, was initially arrested and charged in connection with the shooting, but prosecutors dropped all adult charges against him April 30, court records indicate.

He has since been adjudicated as a delinquent in Family Court on conspiracy and related charges and has been placed at Glen Mills School for Boys.

Rochwell is cooperating with the police investigation, said his attorney, Amato T. Sanita.