How did a fourth grader have a gun at school? CMPD, CMS won’t say.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police refused to say this week how a fourth grade student got an unloaded gun that he took to his elementary school on Friday.
Administrative staff found a black Ruger Max-9 pistol in the student’s bag at Devonshire Elementary School, according to a police incident report.
The gun was seized just before 8 a.m., police posted on the social media site X, the former Twitter. The student hadn’t entered the school building, according to CMPD. Staff gave the gun to police officers who were called to the school. No injuries were reported, police said.
The school is on Barrington Drive in east Charlotte.
The gun was valued at $300, police said in the report.
“The firearm was collected by police and turned into property control,” according to the report.
The report lists the incident as a criminal weapons law violation and the status of the case as “an active investigation.”
Police spokesman Mike Allinger declined requests from the Observer on Tuesday and Wednesday to release additional details, including where the student got the gun, who owns the gun and whether an adult will be charged.
Allinger declined to say why police won’t share what they know.
“Publicly, we do not want to share anything further,” he told the Observer by phone Tuesday.
Another Devonshire Elementary School student reported the gun, “and staff immediately confiscated the weapon,” principal Kristen Hackl said in a message to parents and staff Friday morning.
“Our children are safe in their classrooms and learning is continuing,” Hackl said in the message. The Observer obtained a copy of the message through a request to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools media office on Friday.
“Possession of a weapon of any kind in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is a violation of the Code of Student Conduct and can have serious consequences,” according to Hackl’s message. “As always, the safety and well-being of our students and staff is our top priority and we work diligently to provide a secure learning environment for everyone.
“We encourage all students to report weapons or threats to a trusted adult to continue our dedication to having safe schools,” the principal said.
CMS “cannot provide any additional information due to student privacy,” district spokeswoman Susan Vernon-Devlin said in an email to the Observer on Friday.
This story was originally published April 24, 2024 at 1:48 PM.