After school yesterday, when sifting through my 7 year-old son's school papers, I came across a letter from the school principal. Who wants to read a letter like this? Not I, for sure. The letter was informing parents of an incident involving some children from the school who were riding on a bus when a 6 year-old student removed an unloaded gun from his backpack. It was passed to the child sitting next to him, who looked at it then wisely reported it to the bus driver.
The incident ended there. But this gun could have easily been brought into the school (I'm told the student carrying the gun did not attend my son's school, but still...). Ugh. I don't care if it was loaded or unloaded - what in the world is a 6 year-old doing with a gun?
So glad I decided not to use the bus system this year, that's for sure.
Here's the tiny writeup in the local newspaper today. Really, I'm surprised this wasn't a huge story - it's scary.
Police investigate school bus gun incident
Freeport, Ill. —
Local police are investigating an incident Wednesday morning where a
6-year-old male student brought an unloaded gun onto a school bus
transporting disabled children to Empire School in Freeport.
Initial reports are that the student brought the unloaded revolver onto the bus in his backpack. At some point, the student showed the gun to another child on the bus, and that child informed the bus driver, said Freeport Deputy Police Chief Jeff Davis.
The bus driver contacted school transportation officials, who in turn called the Freeport Police Department. Local police responded to Empire School, 1325 W. Empire St. in Freeport, and have taken possession of the firearm as evidence.
Davis said the serial numbers on the gun had been removed. No charges have yet resulted from this case, and the investigation is ongoing, he said.
Initial reports are that the student brought the unloaded revolver onto the bus in his backpack. At some point, the student showed the gun to another child on the bus, and that child informed the bus driver, said Freeport Deputy Police Chief Jeff Davis.
The bus driver contacted school transportation officials, who in turn called the Freeport Police Department. Local police responded to Empire School, 1325 W. Empire St. in Freeport, and have taken possession of the firearm as evidence.
Davis said the serial numbers on the gun had been removed. No charges have yet resulted from this case, and the investigation is ongoing, he said.
Hi Penny,
ReplyDeleteOh.my.gosh. This is horrible.