6-year-old passes loaded gun around to students in class, TN cops say. Mom charged
A 6-year-old student brought a loaded gun to school in Tennessee, officials said. Now, his mother is charged.
A school resource officer at Geeter K-8, in Southwest Memphis, responded to the incident early Thursday, Sept. 5, a Memphis Shelby County Schools spokesperson told McClatchy News.
The officer said the 6-year-old passed the gun around to other students in his class, WMC reported.
Memphis Police told WREG a school staff member confiscated the gun after finding it in the student’s backpack.
According to the district, no one was injured and the student was removed from the school.
“We encourage all parents and guardians to check their students’ backpacks before they come to school each day,” Memphis Shelby County Schools said in a statement. “It is also important to discuss the serious consequences of bringing any weapon or replica weapon to school.”
Police said the mother told them the gun belonged to her, and she was arrested, WREG reported.
She is charged with child abuse, child neglect or endangerment and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to a WDEF report.
Memphis Police Department records show she was released on her own recognizance Sept. 6 and is expected to appear in court Oct. 4.
McClatchy News is not identifying the mother to protect the identity of her child.
Parents held responsible
According to a National Institute of Justice study, more than 80% of individuals who carried out a K-12 mass shooting stole the weapon from a family member.
In recent years, prosecutors have shown a growing interest in holding parents of students found with guns at school accountable. This also applies to parents of shooting suspects.
In 2021, a family member of a kindergartner who brought a loaded gun to a North Carolina school was charged with weapons on campus or educational property, McClatchy News reported.
Earlier this year, The Associated Press reported that the parents of a Michigan school shooter were convicted of involuntary manslaughter. This was the first time in this country that parents were charged in connection with deaths caused by their child in a mass shooting.
This month, the father of the suspected gunman in the shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia faces “the most severe charges ever filed against the parent of an alleged school shooter,” The Washington Post reported.
This story was originally published September 6, 2024 at 6:23 PM with the headline "6-year-old passes loaded gun around to students in class, TN cops say. Mom charged."
