{"id":24650,"date":"2026-04-08T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=24650"},"modified":"2026-04-04T17:35:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T22:35:01","slug":"bemidji-school-fight-leads-to-weapon-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/bemidji-school-fight-leads-to-weapon-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji School Fight Leads to Weapon Charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bemidji, Beltrami County<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) A fight at Bemidji High School led to charges against Demario Rico Gayden<\/strong>, court records show. A criminal complaint filed in Beltrami County says the case began on March 24, 2026. The complaint alleges Gayden assaulted a staff member during a fight involving several students. It also alleges he had a knife in a backpack while on school property.<\/p>\n

What the Complaint Says<\/h2>\n

According to the complaint, authorities were called to Bemidji High School at about 9:45 a.m. The report involved a fight with multiple students. Court records say school staff identified Demario Rico Gayden as one of the people involved. The complaint states he was later found in a school bathroom and arrested.<\/p>\n

After the arrest, the complaint says a search of Gayden\u2019s backpack was done at the Beltrami County Jail. Investigators allege they found a black folding knife inside. The complaint says the blade was about six inches long. It says the full knife was more than 12 inches long.<\/p>\n

Because of that, prosecutors charged Gayden with possession of a dangerous weapon on school property. That charge is a felony under Minnesota Statute 609.66<\/a>. The complaint also lists a misdemeanor charge of fifth-degree assault under Minnesota Statute 609.224<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Demario
Demario Rico Gayden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reported Injuries<\/h2>\n

The complaint says two staff members sought medical care after the incident. One staff member was treated at Sanford after being punched in the face, according to the complaint. Court records say that the person underwent X-rays on a cheekbone. The complaint also says another staff member sought medical care for possible injuries.<\/p>\n

The filing does not include a trial outcome. It only describes the allegations that supported the charges. In criminal cases, charges are accusations. They must be proven in court.<\/p>\n

Case Status<\/h2>\n

The case was filed in the Minnesota District Court in Beltrami County. The court file number listed in the complaint is 04-CR-26-718. Readers can learn more about Minnesota courts through the Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As of the complaint, Gayden faced one felony count and one misdemeanor count. The felony count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both. The misdemeanor count carries a maximum of 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bemidji, Beltrami County (trfnews.i234.me) A fight at Bemidji High School led to charges against Demario Rico Gayden, court records show. A criminal complaint filed in Beltrami County says the case began on March 24, 2026. The complaint alleges Gayden assaulted a staff member during a fight involving several students. It also alleges he had a… Continue reading Bemidji School Fight Leads to Weapon Charge<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[1212,1224,12267,848,772,15679,15975,5283,264,15974,2051,5231,642,15973,786,3809],"class_list":["post-24650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-beltrami-county","tag-bemidji","tag-bemidji-high-school","tag-charge","tag-crime","tag-demario-rico-gayden","tag-felony-weapons-charge","tag-fifth-degree-assault","tag-fight","tag-knife-on-school-property","tag-leads","tag-minnesota-court-complaint","tag-school","tag-school-fight","tag-trf-news","tag-weapon","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24653,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24650\/revisions\/24653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}