In Re Joseph G.

Joseph G. appeals the juvenile court’s order declaring him a delinquent minor following true findings he carried a loaded firearm at school, carried a loaded firearm in a public place and carried a concealed weapon (Pen. Code, §§ 626.9, subd. (a), 12031, subd. (a)(1), 12025, subd. (a)(2)).

On the afternoon of Wednesday, October 20, 1993, the vice-principal at Mt. Miguel High School received a call from a parent of a student. The caller apparently identified herself but asked for confidentiality because she feared for her son’s safety. She told the vice-principal her son had seen Joseph with a pistol at a high school football game the previous Friday evening. She explained she was reporting the incident in the interests of safety.

Because all the students had left for the day, the vice-principal waited until the next morning to open Joseph’s locker. The vice-principal was accompanied by a campus security guard. Inside Joseph’s locker they found only books. They closed the locker and went to a neighboring classroom to prepare the class for in-school suspension.

When the vice-principal and security guard left that classroom about five minutes later, they saw Joseph…