A 9-year-old student in Waldorf, Maryland, accidentally fired a .357-caliber revolver in the classroom when reaching into a backpack to get a sheet of paper Thursday, authorities said.
The Billingsley Elementary School student was sitting at a desk, with the backpack between the child’s legs. The bullet shot toward the ground and no one was injured, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities didn’t specify the student’s grade or gender.
A school resource officer retrieved the gun after helping the teacher ensure the students in the classroom were safe. Sheriff’s deputies are looking into how the student got the gun and why it ended up in the backpack. A preliminary investigation found that the revolver might belong to a relative visiting the child.
The sheriff’s office didn’t indicate that anyone was criminally charged in connection to the incident.
“We are incredibly thankful and fortunate that no one was injured during today’s incident. I want to take this moment to urge all parents and guardians to have a conversation with their students about the very real dangers of handling or bringing any type of weapon to school,” Charles County Sheriff Troy Berry posted on social media.
Classes were canceled early as a precaution, Charles County Public Schools Superintendent Maria Navarro said. Billingsley Elementary was closed Friday “to allow everyone time to process what happened.”
The incident comes just days after a similar one in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. A third-grader at Lee Hill Elementary School in Fredericksburg was reaching into a bag when a gun went off. No one was injured.
In that case, the student’s parents, Terrence Carroll Jr., 34, and Ciara Armstead, 36, were arrested and charged with felony child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of leaving an unsecured gun out in a way that endangered a child under age 14.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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