Student who brought pistol to Edinburg North High School pleads guilty

McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A student who brought a gun to Edinburg North High School pleaded guilty to a federal felony on Friday.

Kinzey Jay Lira, 18, of Edinburg brought a Glock pistol and a loaded magazine to school in May.

“Were these facts stated all correct?” Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane asked Lira on Friday morning, when he pleaded guilty.

“Yes, sir,” Lira said.

Lira showed the pistol to a student at Edinburg North High School on May 6, 2025.

Another student caught a glimpse of the pistol, Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District police Chief Ricardo Perez Jr. said during an interview on May 7. That student told another student, who told an assistant principal.

Officers found the gun and a loaded, 10-round magazine in Lira’s backpack.

“But the magazine wasn’t inserted into the handgun,” Perez said.

When police questioned him, Lira said he brought the pistol to school for protection.

“He said: I had no intentions to hurt anyone. I never threatened anyone,” Perez said.

Someone had attempted to modify the pistol, Perez said, to make the weapon fully automatic.

Concerned, police contacted the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Agents charged Lira with unlawful possession of a firearm in a school zone, which is a federal felony.

“He brought the weapon to school, your honor, because he admitted to selling THC vapes at school and he was concerned about protecting himself — for his own safety,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Guerra said during a hearing on May 8.

It wasn’t the first time Lira had brought a gun to school.

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

Guerra confirmed the pistol had been modified.

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

During the hearing, Lira said he’d been hospitalized in March — two months before he brought the pistol to class — for mental health problems.

Lira said he received medication, but he stopped taking it.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nadia S. Medrano set bond at $75,000 with a $1,500 cash deposit.

Lira returned to court Friday wearing blue jeans, a black-and-white checkered shirt and clear plastic glasses.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with drug smugglers and people who illegally crossed the border, Lira admitted that he brought a pistol to school.

Sentencing is scheduled for November. Lira faces a maximum of five years in federal prison.