My teenage son may kill someone unless I stop him

Dear AmoMama,

My son is 14, and a few days ago I was cleaning his room and I found a lot of items under his mattress, and a gun.

I was horrified. He had a few pieces of what was obviously very expensive jewelry, wallets, and a lady’s top-end handbag. I had the awful feeling all this is the product of some type of robbery, perhaps mugging. The gun was wrapped in a cloth that was stained with what looked like dried blood.

My son has always been a quiet, shy boy and a good student, never in trouble. A few months ago my sister moved back to town from New York with her family and my son started hanging around with my oldest nephew.

He idolizes his cousin, but I had the feeling that my sister had moved back to Maryland to get her son away from a bad environment.

Now it looks like he has dragged my son into crime. My first instinct is to call the police, but I don’t want my son dragged into prison, or with a record; and I don’t want my sister to go through hell because of her son.

How can I resolve this? If I do nothing they may kill someone, if I go to the police my own boy goes to jail. Please someone out there, help me.

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