Former East High Student Meets Legal Team After BB Gun Incident

DENVER (CBS4)- A student at the center of a controversy after he brought at BB gun to school in what he claimed was meant to be a prank met with the legal team that kept him out of prison this weekend.

Elhadji Samba Dioum had faced charges of theft, attempted aggravated robbery and menacing. Police say he used a BB gun to threaten a student in December 2015 outside East High School. The school was on lockout for hours and students had to put into place the "active shooter scenario" they had practiced.

On Sunday, Samba thanked the community for its support and met the legal team that kept him out of prison.

"It didn't feel right that a high school kid was spending nine days in jail with a $100,000 bond and had no attorney," said Samba's advocate Sheila MacDonald.

Some say it was all a big misunderstanding. The district attorney's office says there was still a crime committed.

Samba was charged with three felonies and faced a mandatory four years in prison.

"Yes, consequences, but let's not wreck a kid's life over this," said MacDonald.

Three law firms came together and donated an estimated $150,000 in legal expenses.

In March, Samba pleaded guilty and received 175 hours of community service.

"I cannot fix it right now but I can learn from it and that's what I'm doing. I'm learning from it," said Samba.

"I want to say to the victim, too, we want to be supportive of that person too, because that person went through a lot, too," said MacDonald.

Samba will graduate next week from the new high school he attended after he left East. He does not have plans for college yet.