An Essex man who grew up in Harford County was charged Tuesday with robbing a Havre de Grace High School student with a gun loaded with hollow point ammunition, Havre de Grace Police said.
Isaiah Clark, 18, of the Mansfield Apartments in Essex, is charged with armed robbery, first- and second-degree assault and possessing a dangerous weapon on school property, according to court records.
Around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a Havre de Grace High student and his female friend reported to the school resource officer that a black male, wearing a white jacket, had just pointed a gun at him while he and his friend were outside behind the school's gym building at Adams and Bourbon streets.
Clark and the victim got into an altercation on Adams Street that spilled onto school property, according to Officer Jeff Gilpin of the Havre de Grace Police Department, who said Clark had attended the Center for Educational Opportunity alternative education program in Aberdeen but is not enrolled there currently.
Clark was with three other people, at least one of whom is a Havre de Grace High student, Gilpin said.
During the argument, Clark allegedly pulled 9 mm handgun on the victim and stole his phone. The victim's friend was able to take back the phone, Gilpin said.
After allegedly assaulting the victim, Clark and the others walked away on Juniata Street toward Revolution Street, Gilpin said.
The victim went inside the school and reported the incident to the school resource officer, who broadcast the suspect's description.
Police caught up with Clark at the Royal Farms store at the intersection of Juniata and Revolution streets, where he was questioned, Gilpin said.
A witness in the store said they saw Clark put something on a store shelf, according to Gilpin. The handgun allegedly used in the assault was found behind a chip display.
When police checked the gun, they found it had been stolen in Pennsylvania, Gilpin said.
Clark was taken to the Harford County Detention Center in Bel Air. After meeting with the commissioner, who set Clark's bail at $250,000, a corrections deputy said he smelled marijuana on Clark, according to charging documents.
Clark was strip-searched and corrections officers found a small bag of marijuana inside his underwear, according to charging documents, and he was subsequently charged with drug possession in a place of confinement.
During a bail review hearing Wednesday afternoon, Harford County District Court Judge Susan Hazlett continued Clark's bail at $250,000 on the armed robbery charges and $3,000 on the drug possession charge.
Assistant Public Defender Matthew Gravens told Hazlett that Clark grew up in Harford County, but is living in Essex and had been in the process of re-entering 12th grade in Baltimore County.
"I want to get home so I can get a job and get back in school," Clark told Hazlett over the closed circuit TV link between the courtroom and detention center.
As of Thursday morning, Clark continued to be held at the detention center.
Harford County Public Schools Manager of Communications Jillian Lader said she could not comment on the incident, other than to say the Havre de Grace police are investigating and the school system is always alert to safety and security issues.
"We always have an eye out on these things," Lader said.