Boy who found loaded handgun outside Bradenton school is honored

MANATEE -- A fourth-grader who found a loaded handgun outside a Bradenton elementary school was honored Friday.

Romero Aguilar, 10, of Bradenton, was given a certificate of appreciation by his principal Guy Grimes.

According to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, a 9-year-old boy brought a loaded handgun to Robert H. Prine Elementary School, 3801 Southern Parkway, Bradenton, on Wednesday and placed it just outside the front door of the school, where Romero found it Thursday morning.

"The boy told detectives he found the gun on Tuesday near his residence and gave no reason as to why he left the gun at school," the sheriff's office said in a news release Thursday evening.

No charges have been filed in the case, which remains under investigation.

Thursday morning, the sheriff's office reported that a student arriving for the day advised the principal that he had seen the gun, which was in a grassy area underneath a rain-gutter downspout, according to a news release.

The sheriff's office said the weapon was a loaded .32-caliber Beretta.

"It could not be determined at this point who or when the handgun was put there because there is a wall concealing the view from the front-door camera," the release said.

Romero's aunt, Tayna Ramos, 29, said her nephew found the gun with her son, Kevin Gonzalez, 11, who also attends Prine.

"His (Romero's) first reaction was to go tell the principal. They didn't want anybody to touch it," the Bradenton resident said. "When they found the gun, they told the other kids to not touch it and to leave it there."

The cousins then ran to tell staff about what they had found.

"I was really surprised that they even found a gun on that school," Ramos said. "It's a really good school and I know the kids were in the area they were supposed to be. I just thank God that they found it and did the right thing and not went ahead and picked it up and aimed at it or played with it."

According to Ramos, Romero and her son told her that they knew the firearm was a real gun.

"They told me, "It's not like the fake ones in the store because it looked really real,'" she said. "I was very proud of both of them."

According to Manatee County School District spokesman Steve Valley, Romero's honor on Friday was strictly a school initiative.

Ramos said she felt school staff handled the situation well, but noted that there were a lot of parents who were not contacted about the situation.

"My son said yesterday that him and his cousin were heroes," she said. "I said 'Yes, because you saved a lot of lives yesterday.'"

Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. Follow her on Twitter @AmarisCastillo.

This story was originally published January 31, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Boy who found loaded handgun outside Bradenton school is honored ."