Teen found with gun, ammo near Valley High School sentenced to prison

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A teen who was found near a JCPS school with a loaded gun and dozens of rounds of ammunition claims he never wanted to hurt anyone -- but that didn't stop a judge from sentencing him to six years in prison.

On Tuesday morning, Jefferson Circuit Judge Angela McCormick Bisig ignored the pleas for probation made by both 19-year-old Tashunka Campbell and his attorney, instead sentencing Campbell to prison time.

Campbell's family members were in the courtroom and wept during the decision.

"I said something that I shouldn't have said to my teacher," Campbell told the judge. "But I had no harm in harming -- I wasn't going to harm anybody that day. I had no intentions of harming anybody that day."

Earlier this year, Campbell pleaded guilty to charges of terroristic threatening, wanton endangerment and menacing. In April 2019, a school resource officer caught the then 18-year-old across from Valley High School with a loaded gun and 50 rounds of ammo.

Days before he was arrested, Campbell fired an AK-47 in a neighborhood and made threats to a teacher at the school.

Campbell's attorney asked the judge to consider probation instead of prison. He says Campbell received money when he turned 18 for a childhood bicycle crash. He argued Campbell wasn't mature enough for the money and made bad decisions.

But Judge Bisig ruled against the motion for probation and says Campbell didn't just do one alarming thing with a gun, but he had numerous issues.

"I don't see from the history of how we've progressed in this case that Mr. Campbell understands the serious and lasting effects of what a gun can do -- particularly around guns and youth and schools in this community," Judge Bisig said.

Campbell's attorney says he was disappointed in the ruling. But since Campbell has already been in jail for some time, his attorney believes he would be eligible for possible parole by the end of the year.

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