Boy shows off BB gun at school

A 12-year-old boy is facing misdemeanor charges and possible expulsion from school after being caught with a BB gun at Hayden Meadows Elementary School on Wednesday.

According to a report from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department, the student took a Smith and Wesson air pistol out of his backpack and showed it to other students in the school’s breakfast room. Principal Patty Woodworth told Deputy Justin Bangs that students reported the weapon to her.

The student reportedly admitted to Woodworth that he had a pistol at school and she took him to the office, confiscated the gun and called police.

According to the report, the student told Bangs he brought the gun because he was going to play at a friend’s house after school.

Woodworth described the incident as “nothing of any consequence.” She said the gun was not loaded.

Superintendent Harry Amend said students who bring weapons to school are immediately suspended under the district’s Zero Tolerance policy and police are contacted. Amend said the student will have a hearing before the school board, which will “make a decision as to appropriate consequences.”

Sheriff’s Lt. Kim Edmondson said the report is being forwarded to the prosecutor’s office. She said the penalty for bringing a gun to school is up to a year in jail, a $1,000 fine or both. Edmondson said air guns like the one in school Wednesday are “very realistic looking” and shoot small metal or plastic BBs or pellets.

“They actually can leave pretty good welts and bruises,” she said. “Because it does dislodge a projectile, it’s considered a weapon.”

She said the department doesn’t receive many reports of weapons being brought to schools.

“That’s not to say kids aren’t taking these weapons to school,” she said. “It’s just that they aren’t getting reported to us.”

Edmondson commended the students who told the principal about the gun.

“You cannot tell if it’s a deadly weapon or an Airsoft pistol that just shoots a plastic projectile,” she said. “Still, somebody can be hurt by that.”

The boy’s mother told the sheriff’s department that she had told her son several times not to take a gun to school. She reportedly told Bangs it “would never happen again.”