A 10-year-old Eliot Elementary School student was arrested on
suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after he shot a
spring-loaded pellet gun off in class at his teacher, police
said.
A 10-year-old Eliot Elementary School student was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after he shot a spring-loaded pellet gun off in class at his teacher, police said.
On Monday, the student searched through cabinets and drawers in the principal’s office and found the pellet gun which had been confiscated at an earlier date, Sgt. John Sheedy said. Superintendent Deborah Flores said the weapon was a plastic toy gun that shot off plastic projectiles.
“It’s hard to imagine that it could hurt anyone,” she said.
But Sheedy said the weapon had the potential to put out an eye or cause major injury if shot at close range.
“It would be a misnomer to say it was a toy,” he said. “I don’t like the term ‘toy.’ It is not a firearm, but that doesn’t mean it can’t cause damage or hurt someone.”
He said the pellet gun looks like a real gun, but is marked with an orange tip indicating that it was not.
“If you don’t know any better, it looks like a gun,” he said. “There have been many cases in this country in past years where youngsters have pointed replica firearms or pellet pistols that look like handguns at a police officer that has resulted in officer involved shootings. That’s one of the reasons that the guns now have orange tips.”
Similar models are sold at sporting goods stores to customers at least 18-years-old. Managers at Target and Toys “R” Us said that nothing even resembling a firearm is sold in their stores. The closest thing to a “gun” sold at Toys “R” Us is the Nerf line of products.
The student took the pellet gun to class Wednesday morning and shot one round, during class, at his teacher, Sheedy said. One of the pellets grazed her hair, he said. The student shot off an additional round in the air, he said. No one was injured.
“We’re not sure what the student was doing,” Flores said, “whether he intended to shoot at the teacher or whether he was fooling around as he claims.”
The school is still investigating the incident and hasn’t determined the connection between the student from whom the toy was confiscated and the student who was arrested.
“We’re not done with the investigation,” Flores said. “We’re taking this very seriously. Under the education code and the penal code, this is a very serious incident. We’re taking every disciplinary action necessary.”
Flores would not say if the child would be returning to school.
In her experience, she could not remember a time when a student had gone through a principal’s belongings and said that it’s common practice in the district for principals to have an open-door policy.
“There’s no reason that a student should go into the principal’s office and take something from the desk,” she said. “It’s very unusual.”
Eliot parents were notified of the incident via a letter sent home and an automatic phone call, she said.
“As a parent, I would be very worried if I heard there was a gun on my child’s campus,” she said. “But it was not a real gun. It was a toy gun. That does not excuse the behavior but I don’t want people worried about their children’s safety.”
The boy was booked at the police station on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and bringing a weapon on school grounds. He was released to his mother and will be assessed by the juvenile probation department, Sheedy said.
