A 7-year-old boy brought a loaded 9mm semiautomatic pistol to his Aurora school Monday, where he let classmates handle it before two boys grabbed the gun and buried it, police said.
“It’s shocking that a child this young would have access to a weapon,” said Georgia Duran, spokeswoman for Aurora Public Schools. She said the boy could be expelled.
The boy, who lives with his grandmother, brought the gun to Tollgate Elementary School, 701 S. Kalispell Way, in his backpack, said Aurora police Sgt. Rudy Herrera.
Authorities expressed relief that no one was hurt.
“We’re fortunate that none of the kids who came into contact with this gun pulled the trigger and … that no one got shot,” Herrera said.
The youngster showed the gun to several other Tollgate kids, then stuffed it back in his pack and went to class, Herrera said.
At lunch recess, he again showed the gun to other children, and some of them handled the gun, Herrera said. One of them dropped the pistol on the ground, but it didn’t discharge.
Two other boys grabbed the gun and buried it in the schoolyard, he said. That is where authorities, called about 12:30 p.m. when students reported seeing the weapon, found it.
Herrera said the boy apparently took the gun from his mother’s home outside Aurora while visiting her Sunday. Police are trying to contact the mother, but neither the boy nor his grandmother know where his mother lives.
“We’re looking at the possibility that the kid’s mother may have instructed him to go up to her room and check if the gun was still there,” Herrera said. “If that’s what occurred, that’s a felony.”
Whether his mother directed him to the weapon or he found it on his own, “either way, that gun should not have been in a place where a child could have accessed it,” Herrera said.
He said police have no reason to believe the boy’s grandmother knew he had the pistol.
Duran said the school district is working with police to try to determine what happened.
Under the district’s zero- tolerance policy, the boy faces expulsion. Duran said other students who knew about the gun and didn’t report it to the school staff could be disciplined, as well.
She urged parents to impress upon their children the importance of reporting to their teachers whenever they see a weapon at school.
“It’s important that somebody tells an adult so we can do something about it,” Duran said.
Herrera said the boy was released to the custody of his grandmother.
Staff writer Jim Kirksey can be reached at 303-820-1448 or jkirksey@denverpost.com.
