Students speak up about 9-year-old with loaded gun at Tarrant County elementary school
A 9-year-old fourth-grader at a Tarrant County elementary school had a loaded handgun inside of a backpack all day on Monday, until two students reported the weapon to administrators during afternoon dismissal, according to the district and a parent of one of the two students.
The Greenfield Elementary student only intended to show off the gun, according to Megan Overman, a spokesperson for the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District. Overman wouldn’t say what punishment the district is handing down to the student or explain how the child was able to get a hold of the loaded gun at home and bring it unnoticed to school.
A letter from Greenfield Principal Kelly Ramsey went out to parents late Monday informing them of the incident, and that Fort Worth police responded to the school. Police determined the student didn’t intend to harm anyone and there was no danger to students or staff at any time, Ramsey wrote in the letter.
But Jessica Ellis, of Fort Worth, says the danger felt real to her fifth-grade son, who — along with his friend — wrestled all day with coming forward about what they saw.
Her 10-year-old son told her the 9-year-old showed him and the friend the gun on the morning bus ride to school, she said. The fourth-grader, her son informed her, was playing with it, pulling out the magazine and fumbling with bullets before trying to cock it. Her son and the other student asked the child to stop, she said, as they ducked in their seats. The 9-year-old expressed confidence in knowing how to use the gun, she said.
When they got off of the bus and made their way into school, they felt nervous about telling a teacher because they didn’t want to upset the other student, Ellis said. The student who had the gun, she said, had told them on the bus not to tell anyone.
But her son and his friend decided to speak up in the late afternoon when students began to get onto buses.
“He kept it to himself all day, and then toward the end he saw his friend,” Ellis said. “He was like, ‘Yo, I have to tell — I have to tell my teacher.’”
Ellis said she found out about the incident in a phone call from the mother of her son’s friend around 3:30 p.m. Monday while she was at the gym. She rushed home, she said, and asked her son to tell her what happened. At 4:25, she said, she spoke with Ramsey, the principal, over the phone.
Her immediate reaction, she said, was not of anger toward the child but of frustration with whoever is responsible for looking after the child. She has imagined the worst that could have happened.
“(A gun) should be locked away safely, out of everybody’s hands, child or adult. Your gun is your gun,” Ellis said. “That’s the problem I’m having, is that carelessness like this could have gotten my baby killed on accident.”
Fort Worth police didn’t respond to several questions on Tuesday, including if police believe there was ever a danger to anyone on the bus or at school.
Though Overman said she can’t discuss specific disciplinary action regarding students, the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD student handbook notes any student under the age of 10 who brings a gun onto school grounds won’t be expelled but placed into a “disciplinary alternative education program.” Expulsion is automatic for anyone over 10, under federal and state law.
The district has heard from parents who are concerned about the incident, according to Overman, the district spokesperson. Greenfield Elementary planned to send a letter to parents later on Tuesday with an update, she said, and the school and the district are encouraging anyone with questions to reach out.
When asked over the phone about the possibility there could have been an accidental shooting, as are reported across the country and in Texas every year, Overman said “we certainly share the same concerns.”
“Which is why weapons of any kind are not allowed on campus and why we take this situation and any others like it very, very seriously,” she said.
There are no metal detectors on campus or backpack checks where someone could have found the gun, according to Overman. But the school emphasizes that if kids see something, they should say something — a message officials are reinforcing following this incident.
Ramsey wrote in the letter Monday “we ask you to join us in reiterating these important lessons.”
She also noted, “I am proud of our students who acted responsibly in reporting this matter.”
‘He had high emotions inside of his body’
Ellis feels proud her son, who takes medication for mild Tourette’s syndrome, stayed calm on the bus and didn’t do anything to make an accidental shooting more likely.
The 10-year-old was raised around guns and hunting, she said. He knew it wasn’t a good idea for the other child to be playing with a gun, even as a joke, but she said he also knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to startle or surprise him. When Ellis spoke with him after school, he was still carrying himself in a brave way, she said.
But she could tell, from his ticks, something was bothering him.
“I knew that he had high emotions inside of his body because he only does that when he’s really worked up,” Ellis said. “I could tell, just by his reaction to him telling me the story, that he was upset.”
She told him he didn’t have to go to school on Tuesday if he didn’t want to but he did, she said. A counselor was going to speak with him at some point during the day.
Ellis told the Star-Telegram she feels Greenfield Elementary and Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD haven’t adequately addressed the seriousness of the situation. It was inappropriate, she said, for the school to say in the letter police believe there was no danger to anyone given the situation her son and his friend were in. She said she has wondered, too, how police could make that determination so quickly.
Looking ahead, she feels concerned her son could have to see the other student again at school. She spoke with Ramsey about this, she said, and the principal told her they could have a no-contact order issued.
She believes this student should have the chance to return to school, but only after it’s clear the child understands why it was wrong to bring a gun onto campus. And, she said, after the caretaker or caretakers realize there needs to be no way a child can get a gun.
She admits she doesn’t “know the story of this family,” she said.
“I can’t judge someone else’s family without knowing them,” she said. “I just know that when it comes to firearms, it is our responsibility to reach our children about it. That is all I do know.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 12:33 PM.
