More details on arrest of person in Jim Hill Middle School parking lot

MINOT, N.D. – More details have emerged regarding the arrest of a woman in the parking lot of Jim Hill Middle School Thursday.

Investigators with the Ward County Sheriff’s Department said central dispatch received a call from a citizen who witnessed a woman load a rifle into a vehicle and quickly drive away.

Deputies located the woman in a vehicle in the parking lot of Jim Hill Middle School, where they found 38-year-old Crystal Decent sitting with a juvenile.

They also found a rifle inside of the vehicle and secured it.

Investigators said Decent was at the school for a matter pertaining to another juvenile.

The sheriff’s department said she has a prior felony conviction that prohibited her from having a firearm.

Decent is facing charges of including unlawful possession of a firearm and carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle.

Police on the scene said after further investigation there was no threat of harm to students at the school.

The school district sent a message out to Jim Hill parents Thursday to tell them what happened.

A motive for why Decent was at the school has not been found.

Decent made her initial appearance on the charge Friday afternoon and will be arraigned June 24.