A teenager (14) in Tusla care put a fake sawn-off shotgun together in his room and instilled fear into staff when he went downstairs to tell them he had a gun, a court has heard.At the Family Law Court, the boy’s court appointed-independent voice, the Guardian ad Litem (GAL) said the incident was concerning.The GAL told the court the teenager told him “he had made a sawn-off shotgun, albeit it was in no way real”.The GAL said: “It was made out of a shoe rack and a hanger from the room and he covered it in a towel and went downstairs and said that he had a gun.” “When I challenged him on this to say that this is completely the kind of stuff that is going to prevent him from going home, he just smiled and didn’t really accept that it was serious at all.”After hearing the GAL evidence, Judge Adrian Harris said: “This is a very untenable situation, an extremely volatile and dangerous situation potentially for the child.”Last month, Tusla secured an emergency care order after the teen “completely destroyed” his home in a row sparked over his mother refusing to return his mobile phone to him.Last week, Harris told a court it was “outrageous” and “unbelievable” that the boy was going from hotel placement to hotel placement. Those placements have now ended and since last Friday the boy has been placed by Tusla in a Special Care Arrangement. The GAL met with the boy at his new placement this week and said the teenager “told me straight away that he hated the place and didn’t want to be there and wanted to go home”.The GAL said the boy accepted his behaviour had to improve if he wanted to get home.He said that in contrast to that, the boy’s interaction with the staff in the kitchen “was very disrespectful, very demanding and very difficult and his earlier conversation with me was a real disconnect and his behaviour is not matching his understanding of what it should be”.Initially, the teenager was a social admission by Tusla to a university hospital after the fuel protests prevented gardai from transferring the boy to a hotel placement in Dublin. .Harris said the teenageris not currently in a secure unit and can leave the place when he wants to.He said: “I am pleading with the Child and Family Agency to knock heads and see if something can be done for this boy as a matter of extreme urgency and make sure we don’t get to a situation we could get to.” He extended the Interim Care Order to May 22nd.