Loaded gun was inside kindergartner’s backpack at North Carolina school, district says
A teacher found a loaded gun inside a kindergartner’s backpack, sparking an investigation in North Carolina, officials said.
The handgun was discovered Monday morning at Tanglewood Elementary School in Lumberton, roughly 95 miles south of Raleigh, according to Public Schools of Robeson County.
“District Administrators are deeply troubled by this incident due to the age of the student and what could have taken place if the teacher did not take proper action once discovering the handgun,” district spokesperson Gordon Burnette said in an email.
The child reportedly came to school without a backpack on Monday and a relative went to pick it up.
“She went to the home and grabbed the wrong bookbag,” Burnette told McClatchy News in a phone interview. “And the bookbag that she brought to school had a loaded handgun in it.”
A teacher was getting the child’s snack out of the bookbag when she saw the gun and gave it to a school resource officer, Burnette said. No students saw the gun at the school, which doesn’t have metal detectors, according to the district.
As of Thursday, the child’s family member was charged with weapons on campus or educational property, according to the school district and the Lumberton Police Department. Another 38-year-old woman is facing a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile in connection with the case, records show.
“We encourage all parents that own firearms to please take the necessary precautions and store them in secure locations that are out of the reach of our students,” Burnette said.
The weapon found in the bookbag was the fourth loaded gun discovered on the Robeson County district’s campuses since the start of the school year. Two were at Lumberton Senior High School, and one was in a car outside Purnell Swett High School, officials said.
“We’ve had meetings with the sheriff’s department about beefing up our law enforcement presence on campus,” Burnette said. “They’ve also enacted random searches that are happening weekly within our high schools.”
This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 9:38 AM with the headline "Loaded gun was inside kindergartner’s backpack at North Carolina school, district says."
