Probation likely for girl who gave gun to friend

A 14-year-old girl admitted Tuesday that she gave a gun to a friend at Schaumburg High School who authorities say planned to kill a former love interest.

The 14-year-old, a junior high school student, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm in exchange for an 18-month period of probation.

However, Cook County Judge Edward Pietrucha will not render his official sentence until next month.

Prosecutors say 17-year-old Ashley Ross asked the girl on Jan. 25 to borrow one of several of her father's guns, claiming she wanted protection from a girl with gang affiliations.

The younger teen -- a student in Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 -- handed over a Colt .38-caliber semiautomatic gun, a magazine and box of ammunition from her father's safe.

Ross later confessed to police she "felt like killing" her ex-girlfriend and the girl's current boyfriend, authorities said. Ross is out on a $10,000 bond and due back in court March 19. She faces three separate weapons charges.

Assistant State's Attorney Adrienne Lund said school officials were tipped off by a concerned parent a few days after the exchange. One witness told authorities that as a group of teens was hanging out in a parking lot Ross took the gun from her waistband and waved it in the air.

Police said Ross initially denied having the gun but soon told them they'd find it in her car, which was parked off the Schaumburg High campus. Authorities also said they recovered the magazine, ammunition and a folding knife.

Pietrucha ordered the 14-year-old, whose father attended Tuesday's hearing at the Rolling Meadows juvenile courtroom, to write a 1,000-word essay on violence prevention and handgun-related deaths among young victims.

The girl, who according to attorneys has obeyed all the rules of her home confinement, will undergo a psychiatric evaluation and spend three days in the sheriff's work alternative program.

She will continue to go to school during her probation, but the judge barred her from having any contact with Ross.