A 9-year-old boy was caught with a gun at an elementary school in Las Vegas, police said.
Clark County School Police said officers were called to Helen Marie Smith Elementary School on Wednesday, Sept. 19, around 8:45 a.m. after school officials received an anonymous tip.
The student was taken into custody, but not arrested, and officers recovered an empty .22-caliber gun.
The student will be expelled, which state law requires when a gun is brought onto school property, Assistant Superintendent Tammy Malich said.
It’s the eighth gun incident since the county started its 2018-19 school year; the others have been at high schools.
Father Could Face Charge
The father of the 9-year-old could face consequences in the case after Clark County School District Police Capt. Roberto Morales filed a charge of one count of child endangerment.The decision to move on the charge is up to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, which received the file.
Morales said on Thursday he filed the charge because the gun was unsecured in the family home, allowing the 9-year-old to obtain it.
District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Wednesday that he couldn’t recall charging a parent for a child bringing a gun to school previously.
“But there could be circumstances where we could bring charges,” he added. Wolfson has brought charges against other cases when a child obtained a parent’s gun, including the parents of 4-year-old Bradley Whitis. The parents were charged with child abuse after Whitis died last year from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Parents React
Several parents said they were stunned by what happened.“Why did he bring it? Did he think it was a toy or did he want to hurt someone?” Samantha Johnson told KTNV. “I honestly want to think it was because he thought it was a toy.”
“We’ve had a couple of different ones because of October 1 and different things that have happened at schools,” Shellie Tingey told CBS.
“It’s frightening to hear your kids talking about hard lockdowns, but we just talk about it and as we discuss as a family, I kind of take the temperature of what they’re comfortable with,” she said.