MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A Memphis 13-year-old was rushed to the emergency room after he accidentally shot himself in the leg at school while showing off his gun to classmates.
Police allege the teen was showing the gun to his classmates at A. Maceo Walker Middle School Tuesday morning when he dropped his backpack causing the weapon to fire into his leg. The boy was taken to the hospital in non-critical condition, and will face an expulsion or 180-day suspension when he recovers, WMC Action News 5 reports.
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Police issued a juvenile summons for the teen as a result of the incident, but his mother could also face criminal charges depending on the circumstances of the case, according to the news site.
“He dropped his backpack and all of a sudden there was a big ole boom, and he shot himself in the leg,” Kylin Sisson, a student who witnessed the incident, told WMC. “He was just grabbing his leg. The more he was walking, more blood was coming out.”
“What I heard sounded like it was some books falling on the floor. I didn’t think it was going to be a gun,” sixth grader Shanta Williams said.
The news station also spoke with Latricia Johnson, who was in the building when the gun went off. She criticized school officials for a delay in notifying parents about the episode. WREG reports many parents were at the school for an awards ceremony, while others rushed to the campus when they heard about it on the news, but none the television station spoke with were notified by school officials.
“It should be breaking news,” Johnson told WMC. “You don’t wait! You’ve got parents standing there asking you what is going on, and you’re hush-hush about the situation.”
“I saw all the police cars so I decided to go to the school and check to see if I need to take my child out of school,” parent Samuel Martin told WREG. “He could have been involved. He could have been accidentally hit.”
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School officials contend they were gathering facts about what happened before releasing information to parents. The district sent a letter home with students, but resumed classes for the day.
“One of the things that the Memphis police and our security forces wanted to make sure is we went through an investigation first and get the facts together before we send information out to parents,” Shelby County Schools Chief of Staff Reginald Porter told WREG.
In the district’s letter to parents, officials contend the school typically employs metal detectors to scan for weapons, but had disarmed the devices Tuesday.
“I also want to reiterate that student safety is a top priority. As you know, we conduct regular metal detections on campus as a proactive safety measure,” principal Terrence Brittenum wrote in the letter to parents.
“This morning, we did not conduct a metal detection because our honors program was taking place at the start of the day, and a large number of parents and supporters were expected on campus at the time students were arriving.”
The principal said school officials “did not want to cause any unnecessary alarm or confusion by rushing to communicate immediately” and “wanted to be sure the incident was completely under control and that we had all our facts in order before sending our phone message.”
The incident is at least the second problem with students bringing weapons to school in the last month. On Sept. 30, a tenth grader at Hamilton High School was busted with a semi-automatic .25 caliber pistol with one round in the chamber and two in the magazine, according to the Memphis Flyer.
The 15-year-old told a school resource officer he brought the gun for protection against another student after an off-campus fight, which caused officials to look into another 14-year-old student, who was found with brass knuckles, according to the news blog.
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