Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Police: Boy, 11, arrested after accidentally firing gun in elementary school

Captain Ken Young

Adelaide Chen

Capt. Ken Young speaks at a news conference Thursday, April 23, 2015, to address the arrest of a student after a gun was discharged Wednesday, April, 22, 2015, at Deskin Elementary School.

Updated Thursday, April 23, 2015 | 12:27 p.m.

Deskin Elementary School

An 11-year-old student was arrested Wednesday after he accidentally fired a handgun as he reached into a backpack at Deskin Elementary School, shooting a hole in a desk, authorities said.

There were other students nearby, but nobody was injured, Clark County School District Police said.

The fifth-grader was reaching into the pack about 3:20 p.m., as students were preparing to leave for the day, when the .45-caliber gun went off in a classroom, Capt. Ken Young said at a news conference today.

School staff immediately “isolated” the student, Young said. A BB gun also was recovered.

The handgun is considered stolen and the police have identified the initial owner, Young said.

It was not clear how the boy got the gun, but Young said there appeared to be no relation between the gun owner and the student.

The boy was in custody at a juvenile detention center and faces a felony count of possession of stolen property and gross misdemeanor counts of possession of a dangerous weapon on state property and discharging a firearm, police said.

The boy’s parents were cooperating with police, Young said.

Young urged parents to help prevent such incidents.

“Make sure you know what’s going on in your kids’ backpack. Make sure that you know who they’re associating with. Make sure you know what they’re doing online,” he said. “It starts at home.”

This is the eighth gun School District Police have recovered since July 1, twice as many as the previous year, he said. The number does not include 14 pellet and BB guns confiscated this school year.

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