A gun inside a third-grader’s backpack went off in a classroom in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, on Monday morning, authorities say. Here’s initial info.
Two parents were arrested after their third grade child picked up an unsecured handgun at home, took it to school and it went off by accident inside his backpack in a classroom in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, authorities say.
No students or staff were hurt after the gunfire at Lee Hill Elementary School on Monday morning, the county sheriff’s office said.
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WATCH HERE“Once the gun discharged, the teacher evacuated all 26 students from the classroom and notified the School Resource Officer who was on site,” a statement by the sheriff’s office said.
The child’s parents, Terrence Carroll Jr., 34, and Ciara Armstead, 36, were arrested later Monday and charged with recklessly leaving a loaded, unsecured firearm so as to endanger the life or limb of a child under 14, the sheriff’s office said in an update Tuesday. The charge is a misdemeanor.
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SIGN UP Carroll and Armstead cooperated with the investigation and were released on $5,000 bond, the sheriff’s office said. Their child was not charged, after consultation with prosecutors.
The child found the handgun at home and put it in his backpack, the sheriff’s office said.
“At some point while in the classroom, the child reached into his backpack to retrieve something and inadvertently pulled the trigger on the gun,” the statement said.
No information was released on who owned the gun or why the child took it to school. The student had no intent to do harm, the sheriff’s office said after conducting initial interviews.
Carroll and Armstead are due in court Friday.
So far this school year, 12 instances of elementary schoolers having guns at school have been reported, according to the National Association of School Resource Officers. Guns accidentally went off in two cases, the group said.
Parents have been charged after their children opened fire at school.
A mother in Newport News, Virginia, was sentenced in 2023 to 21 months in prison for using marijuana while owning a firearm after her 6-year-old son took a gun to school and shot and wounded his teacher.
Last year, the parents of a school shooter in Oxford, Michigan, became the first parents convicted in a U.S. mass school shooting. They were each sentenced to at least 10 years in prison after their teen son shot and killed four classmates.
