Fort Myers second grader caught taking gun to school

FORT MYERS, Fla.- An elementary school student was caught taking a gun to school on Friday, confirmed the Lee County School District.

The school district says the second grade student had the unloaded gun on the bus ride to Ray V. Pottorf Elementary School.

A Lee County Sheriff’s Office report states Friday morning, the student brought the gun to the bus stop and gave it to another student who put it in his backpack. Other students warned the bus driver as they were approaching the school. A school resource officer then searched for and located the gun in the child’s backpack.

Parents were notified in the evening through a robocall from the district. The school district says no students were in danger and the gun was only exposed at the bus stop.

“Now I got to worry about about a gun coming in to school, this is not the neighborhood you expect that from,” said parent Christopher Perry.

Some parents say they wanted more notification when the incident happened. The district says all parents received phone calls and parents of the students on the bus received letters.

“If this is all they feel is adequate is a letter to let us know that guns are being brought to school I just feel they dropped the ball on this,” said parent Dennis Perez.

But the district says that is protocol and cannot release any information until after law enforcement finished investigating at the school.

The district released a statement to WINK News saying:

“This is a disappointing and alarming event. Students were proactive in alerting school personnel to the presence of this item and we applaud their character in doing what was right.”

School district spokesperson Amity Chandler says the student will be disciplined as outlined in the code of conduct. The student could be expelled or suspended.