Parent arrested after child brings gun to Doral school
MIAMI - The parent of a student at a Doral K-8 school was arrested after the child reportedly brought a gun to school.
CBS4 has learned that the student is 10 years old.
"It's a crime for the parent to not properly store a firearm. It could get into the hands of a child, which is what happened in this situation," said Miami-Dade schools Police Chief Edwin Lopez.
It happened Monday at Eugenia B. Thomas K-8 Center, at 5950 NW 114th Avenue.
Many parents said there was no public announcement and they weren't notified about the incident until the end of the school day. It was reported around 11 a.m.
Students said they were told not to text or call anyone outside of the school. One parent said her child's teacher locked them in a bathroom for 30 minutes.
"Kids were crying, very scared, and obviously, us as parents, we didn't have the information. What we don't like is the communication that came to us, obviously, they don't want to panic us but also we want to have the correct information and also what's going to happen with security," she said.
The school district said the school was put on code yellow, that alert indicates there is a threat in the school but it is not violent. It's unknown if the gun was loaded.
According to the school district, someone reported the student through the school's "See Something, Say Something" initiative.
After receiving the report, the student was identified and "apprehended" by law enforcement, according to the district. The student in question is a 4th grader. Investigators said the student was not making threats with the gun and no one was injured.
"So I wasn't really that shocked, but I was really surprised after school because I mean, a fourth grader bringing a firearm. My mom told me it was an older kid but it was so surprising that it was a younger student," said sixth grader Camila Ortiz.
Officials said the student would be disciplined according to the school district's code of conduct rules. The child will be charged criminally, but it's not known if they will be suspended from school.