10-Year-Old Boy Detained After Bringing Unloaded Gun To Fort Lauderdale Elementary School
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - An elementary school was placed on a temporary code yellow after a student brought a gun to school.
Fort Lauderdale police said they were notified just after 8 a.m. that a 10-year-old boy had brought a handgun to Walker Elementary, at 1001 NW 4th Street.
When officers arrived, the boy was being detained. He had brought the unloaded gun to the school in his backpack.
Parents who found out about the incident were upset. Monique Higgins went to the school to pick up her seven-year-old because she was very concerned about what had happened.
"I feel like the parents should be prosecuted. That's what I feel. The child needs, I don't know what the child needs, he needs counseling but the parents need to be prosecuted because the gun should have been locked up," she said. "He should never have had access to the gun, at 10-years-old he shouldn't have access to the gun."
The boy's mother and grandfather showed up at the school to speak with the police.
Police contacted the Broward County State Attorney's Office who advised them not to take the boy into custody. The state attorney's office will review the police incident report and decide what action should be taken.
According to the Broward school district's Code of Conduct, the punishment for bringing a gun to school is mandatory expulsion. The district said due to student privacy rules, they can't confirm this will happen.
Police said there was no threat to the safety of students or staff.