CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: A five-year-old boy with a disability accidentally brought a handgun to his elementary school in Cicero, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, on Friday morning.
His mother, Marissa Embrey, 35, who has a license to carry a concealed weapon, said she put the gun in his backpack to take it to her car, but she forgot to remove it before dropping him off at school.
How did the school staff find the gun?
The gun was found during morning procedures at Columbus West Elementary School, located in the 5400 block of West 31st Street.
A program assistant who was helping the boy find his student ID opened the backpack and discovered the firearm.
The police were called and the weapon was recovered. No one was hurt. Dr Aldo Calderin, the superintendent of Cicero District 99, as per CBS News, gave a statement.
He said, “In conjunction with the Cicero Police Department and Columbus West administration, the situation was immediately contained and no one was hurt.
"As always, the safety of our staff and students is our priority.”
What are the charges Embrey is facing?
Embrey was arrested and charged with endangering the life of a child and carrying a concealed weapon in a prohibited area.
She posted a $100 cash bond and was released. She is due to appear in court in Maywood on Sept. 13. Her child was placed in the custody of a family member. ABC7 reported the gun was unloaded.
Some parents expressed their shock and concern over the incident. Cynthia Salgado, whose son is in third grade at the school, told the publication, “Who knows what would’ve happened if that teacher assistant didn’t find it.”
Edgar Bustamante, another parent of a third-grader, said, “My thoughts, honestly just, it comes to the parents. How is it even possible for a kindergarten to like have a gun with them in school premises?”
The incident, even though no one was hurt, shockingly resembles the case of Richnick Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia.
Abby Zewerner a first-grade teacher was intentionally shot in the hand and chest by a six-year-old with his mother's gun he had brought from home.
Her mother Deja Taylor had also stated that her child had some condition and was to be left alone.
How often do children bring guns to elementary schools in the US?
From 2019 to March 2023, at least 181 times children between the ages of 0 and 11 have brought guns to the school, as per CGTN which cites the data from the non-profit Gun Violence Archive.
The incidents, however, resulted in no death or injury.
From 2022 to 2023 March, there were 56 cases of gun violence in elementary schools, including a horrific mass shooting that killed and injured 30 children in Uvalde, Texas.
In the first three months of 2023 alone, 21 incidents involving guns were reported in elementary schools, some of them involving children as young as five or six years old.
It mentions with students getting older the number of incidents only increases. Since 2019, there have been 335 school shooting incidents involving children ages 12-17 and 1,823 non-injury incidents involving older students bringing a gun to school, it states.
