A 16-year-old Bremerton boy was arrested May 7 for unlawful possession of a firearm.

The boy’s mother called police to her home in the 8100 block of Lariat Trail NW after discovering a gun in his backpack. She told police that her son had dropped out of high school, no longer wanted to live with her ex-husband and showed up at her home the day before.

The mother said she was nosy and looked into her son’s backpack after he left the house to go play soccer. She put the gun in a drawer and said she wasn’t sure if it was real or not. Police located the weapon and identified it as a small .380 caliber Beretta handgun. The pistol had a loaded magazine with three live rounds in it and the chamber was empty. The gun is registered to a Lakewood man, but police were initially unable to confirm whether or not it had been stolen.

As police were leaving the home to search for the boy, they spotted a young male matching his description. After contacting the boy, he at first denied being the woman’s son. He subsequently recanted his denial and was taken into custody. While searching him, police found a gold-plated butterfly knife in one of his pockets. After he was advised of his Miranda Rights, the boy invoked them and was transported to the juvenile detention center in Port Orchard.