Prosecutor says Edinburg North student claimed pistol was ‘really hard to control when firing fully automatic’

McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The student who brought a pistol to Edinburg North High School on Tuesday had placed rubber bands around the grip because “the gun was really hard to control when firing fully automatic,” according to a federal prosecutor.

Officers arrested 18-year-old Kinzey Jay Lira on Tuesday morning, when they found a Glock pistol and a loaded magazine in his backpack.

“He brought the weapon to school, your honor, because he admitted to selling THC vapes at school,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Guerra said during a hearing on Thursday morning. “And he was concerned about protecting himself.”

Lira apparently believed that he needed the pistol for protection.

“If there was going to be that kind of level of concern, there could have easily been a gunfight at school property,” Guerra said.

The semi-automatic pistol had been modified, Guerra said, in an attempt to make the weapon fully automatic.

“In addition to that, he had wrapped rubber bands around the grip of the gun,” Guerra said. “Because he told agents that the gun was really hard to control when firing fully automatic.”

Lira showed up at Edinburg North on Tuesday morning with the Glock in his backpack.

During class, Lira showed the pistol to another student, according to Edinburg school district police Chief Ricardo Perez Jr., who summarized the incident during an interview on Wednesday.

A student witnessed Lira showing off the pistol and sent a text message to another student, who told an assistant principal about the gun.

Within minutes, police searched Lira’s backpack and seized the pistol. Officers also detained Lira, who had left the classroom for a bathroom break.

“He had it for personal protection,” Perez said on Wednesday. “He said: I had no intentions to hurt anyone. I never threatened anyone.”

The Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District Police Department charged Lira with unlawfully carrying a weapon in a prohibited place, a third-degree felony.

Hidalgo County Justice of the Peace Andre Maldonado set bail at $100,000.

When police seized the pistol, they noticed the weapon had been modified to fire like a fully automatic weapon.

The Edinburg CISD Police Department contacted the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which charged Lira with unlawful possession of a firearm in a school zone, a federal felony.

Lira appeared in federal court on Thursday morning.

Guerra, the federal prosecutor, asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Nadia S. Medrano to hold Lira without bond.

“This is not the first time he’s attempted to buy a gun,” Guerra said. “This is not the first time he brought a gun to school.”

It’s not clear when Lira acquired the first firearm or what happened to that weapon.

“There was a prior purchase of a firearm that you may or may not have known was stolen,” Medrano said. “That was taken away. Your family did take care of that.”

Questions also surfaced about Lira’s mental health.

Lira said he’d been treated at a “mental hospital” in March and given medication.

“Was that medication just while you were in the hospital?” Medrano said. “Or were you supposed to continue taking that?”

“I was supposed to continue taking it, you honor,” Lira said, but he stopped taking the medication after he left the hospital.

Medrano ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to keep Lira in custody until May 13, when he’ll return to court for a detention hearing.

Attorney Oscar Vega of McAllen, who represents Lira, said his client never threatened anyone or planned to hurt anyone.

“He didn’t take a weapon to harm students,” Vega said.