An Army sergeant in Anne Arundel County is facing charges of leaving a gun accessible to the 7-year-old boy who was injured after taking the gun to a county school in Maryland, authorities said.
The child brought the handgun into school Wednesday and suffered a non-life-threatening injury to one of his hands when it went off.
Army Staff Sgt. Eashan John Stefanski, 34, of Pasadena, Maryland, 18 miles south of Baltimore, now faces charges for leaving a loaded firearm accessible to a minor, the Anne Arundel County Police Department said.
Police said Sgt. Stefanski is the boyfriend of the injured child’s mother, according to WJZ-TV.
Detectives found a handgun in Sgt. Stefanski’s car. At his home, they found an unloaded rifle with a gunlock and two unloaded handguns in locked gun boxes along with keys to the locks, plus another unloaded pistol under a mattress, according to charging documents cited by The Baltimore Banner.
Detectives also found a gun box containing a lock, keys and a loaded magazine, and determined it was the box that held the Glock 27 handgun that the 7-year-old took to school, according to the documents cited by the newspaper.
The firearms charge against Sgt. Stefanski is a misdemeanor, according to court records. The records do not say when the suspect, who received a criminal summons Thursday, is next due to appear in court.
Sgt. Stefanski is part of the Army’s Baltimore Recruiting Battalion. Army recruiting spokeswoman Madison Bonzo told WBFF-TV that he’s suspended pending the results of the law enforcement investigation.
No injuries were suffered by the 15 other children who were in the second-grade classroom at Freetown Elementary School in Glen Burnie at the time of the incident. The school closed early on Wednesday and reopened Thursday.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.