Madison police: School staff objected to arrests of students for gun possession in school (2024)

Staff at Madison’s La Follette High School have on at least two occasions objected to police arresting at least one La Follette student who brought a gun to school, including one case in which two staffers lied about being two students’ legal guardians, according to police reports.

Kyshawn M. Bankston, 18, was charged May 9 with possession of a firearm on school grounds and carrying a concealed weapon after being arrested at the school two days earlier. Police had been called to the school about an unrelated robbery, but while there they were informed by staff that Bankston might have a gun and were asked for help searching his backpack.

Police found a handgun, two magazines with rounds in them, a scale and an empty plastic bag that had contained marijuana, and as they moved to arrest Bankston, he lunged for the gun and had to be restrained, according to police.

It was while Bankston was being arrested that an unnamed “security assistant” at the school became “erratic and upset” at police for making the arrest, according to a screenshot of part of the police report on the incident that was shared with the Wisconsin State Journal.

“We’re supposed to protect kids here,” the security assistant reportedly told principal Mat Thompson. “This is the second time you’ve done this to [Bankston].”

Police said in the report that “the staff member was strongly implying that MPD was at fault for an adult student bringing a gun onto school grounds and resisting our attempts at arrest.”

Madison School District Senior Executive Director of Communications Edell Fiedler said that “although the school security assistant shared their concerns during the arrest, at no time did they prevent police from doing their work.”

Madison police denied a State Journal request under the state’s public records law for the full report of the May 7 incident, saying the investigation into the incident was still open, but did release two other reports regarding Bankston in response to the records request.

First report

One of them details an incident from May 23, 2022, when a student was arrested for having a stolen Glock .45-caliber handgun — converted to shoot BBs — at the school. Because the suspect at the time was 16 years old, his name is redacted from the reports.

It was in this case that then-La Follette staff members Zeyheari Powell and Brittany McKinney told police they were the “legal guardians” of two male students being investigated in the case, according to the police report, which notes that a check of school records showed they were not their guardians.

McKinney then followed officers as they escorted the arrested student out of the building, “yelling something to the effect of, ‘They knew what they were doing,’ and, ‘They are doing this on purpose so all the students can see this.’”

Police say in the report that they waited until students were back in their classrooms before taking the student out of the “nearest exit.” Police say McKinney and Powell later followed the arresting officer to the Central District police station, where someone presented herself at the window as the “mom” of one of the students.

“Based on the time and proximity of McKinney, I believed it was McKinney” who pretended to be the teen’s mother, the report says. Later in the report, police note that the boy’s real mother also showed up at the police station and had contact with officers.

Fiedler declined to comment on any personnel decisions made about Powell and McKinney in response to the incident. Neither are currently employed with the district and the State Journal’s attempts to contact them were unsuccessful.

Second report

In the second full report released to the State Journal, Bankston was identified as one of a group of young men who stole a backpack from a former student in the La Follette parking lot on Oct. 17, 2023, beat her up when she tried to stop them, and then used her debit card to purchase items at places including Foot Locker and Wendy’s. Police developed cause to arrest Bankston and another suspect, whose name is redacted in the report, but then closed the investigation in January after the victim decided not to press charges.

The Madison School District declined to say whether the students involved in the incidents suffered any punishment, saying it could not disclose student records, including disciplinary records.

Police Chief Shon Barnes did not respond to a request for comment on how well the school district cooperates with police investigating reported crimes on campus.

Previous cases

The incidents at La Follette are not the first time law enforcement has reported a lack of cooperation from Madison school officials.

In September 2021, after the parents of a boy who had been assaulted at East High School by two of his classmates said they wanted their son’s attackers charged with crimes, then-assistant principal and now principal Mikki Smith told the parents, “That’s not going to happen.” The district has said Smith’s comment was taken out of context and she only meant the assailants wouldn’t be charged as adults.

A little more than a month later, the district’s co-director of the Office of School Safety, Gina Aguglia, abruptly stopped cooperating with police who were seeking her help identifying several young people reported with guns near East High School, including some who were in a stolen car later involved in a police pursuit, police reports showed.

State Journal reporter Anna Hansen contributed to this report.