Father, son charged after cache of weapons found in Vadnais Heights home

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A father whose son allegedly made threats against students at his school has been charged after authorities discovered a cache of weapons, including a machine gun, at their Vadnais Heights, Minnesota home.

On Thursday, the Ramsey County sheriff’s office received a report that a student at the Academy of Sciences and Agriculture had made a threat against students at the school. The 13-year-old student was suspended. 

According to the criminal complaint, the boy’s mother told deputies her son did not have access to weapons and there were no weapons in the home. 

On Friday, deputies executed a search warrant at the boy’s home and found a cache of firearms, ammunition and possible explosive devices. The boy was home alone when authorities arrived. 

RELATED: Family shares different side of story after weapons found in home

Authorities also found what appeared to be conversion kits for converting weapons to automatic weapons, as well as literature on how to convert a semi-automatic weapon to a fully automatic weapon. 

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives examined several of the guns and determined that one of the guns “met the legal definition for a machine gun and the other gun met the legal definition for a short-barreled shotgun,” the charges say.

Both of the guns are illegal under Minnesota law, and neither were registered and approved for legal possession. A family member claims they are family heirlooms

Several of the firearms were loaded and located out in the open and were accessible to children in the home.  

The boy’s father, Christopher Stowe, 41, told authorities the guns were his. Stowe is charged with two felony counts of unlawful possession of a machine gun and a short-barreled gun and one gross misdemeanor count of negligent storage of a firearm in the presence of a child. He will make his first court appearance on Monday afternoon. 

The 13-year-old boy has been charged with threats of violence. He will also make his first court appearance on Monday.