It just keeps happening. On Thursday:
A 5-year-old kindergartener has reportedly been detained at a school in Tennessee after a handgun discharged in the cafeteria.
Shawn Pachucki with Shelby County Schools told WMCT that police were called to Westside Elementary School following a gunshot that happened in the cafeteria at around 7:30 a.m. Pachucki said that the child brought the gun to school in a backpack and it accidentally discharged.
“This morning at Westside Elementary School, a Kindergarten student brought a firearm to school in his backpack,” a statement from Shelby County Schools said. “While waiting for the opening bell in the cafeteria, the firearm discharged accidentally inside the child’s backpack. Nobody was injured, and staff immediately took possession of the backpack.”
The statement added: “SCS Security and the Memphis Police Department responded quickly, and the matter is now under investigation. There is no evidence at this time of harmful intent; however, weapons of any kind are prohibited on campuses, and this student will be disciplined in accordance with the state’s zero tolerance policy.”
The kid probably attained the gun from a “law abiding gun owner.”
An 8-year-old boy intentionally shot and killed his elderly caregiver on Thursday evening after playing a violent video game, authorities say.
Marie Smothers was pronounced dead at the scene with a gunshot wound to the head in a mobile home park in Slaughter, Louisiana, the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. Slaughter is about 20 miles north of Baton Rouge.
Authorities identified the woman as the boy’s “caregiver,” without stating whether she is a relative. But CNN affiliate WBRZ reported that the woman was the boy’s grandmother.
Smothers was 87, public records show.