Elementary student brought loaded handgun to school
By Staff report
Thursday April 24, 2008 7:47:24am


CHICKAUGA, Ga. --- Authorities continue to investigate the Cherokee Ridge Elementary gun incident with further questioning of students, teachers and the bus driver.

Two 10-year-olds boys are facing a felony charge for having a handgun, a loaded .40-caliber, on school property on Wednesday.

The charge facing the students is possession of a weapon in a school property zone, which is a felony in Georgia.

“We are still interviewing witnesses,” Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said Friday morning, “such as) students at the school and students on the bus. That is what’s planned for today.”

According to Wilson, students will be asked to describe what they saw, who may have possessed the gun and when they were in possession of it.

“We finished up the interviews with the parents of the two boys yesterday,” he said. “And also interviewed the two boys. … Today our focus is on potential witnesses.”

According to Wilson, the only charges in the case, as of now, is the charge on the two boys that possessed the gun

Wilson said investigators know “for a fact” that the parent of the child that brought the gun to school (child No. 1) was unaware the child had taken it.

“There was no evidence to show that the parent had any knowledge of it and we are con-fident that the investigation will show that,” he said.

According to Wilson, there are no charges filed against the boy’s parents, as of Friday morning.

“We know that child No. 1 brought the handgun from his home,” Wilson said Thursday.

“What we have determined,” he said, “is that student No. 1 brought the gun from home and at some point, during the day, he transferred the weapon to a book bag owned by stu-dent No. 2, and as student No. 2 boarded the bus to go home yesterday around 2:30 p.m., students on the bus determined through conversation that student No. 2 was possessing a weapon in the book bag. The school bus driver was notified and immediately notified admin-istrators, and the gun was found in the possession of student No. 2.”

Related links and content

  • Google map of school’s location

  • Cherokee Ridge Elementary School’s website

  • Article: Cherokee Ridge Elementary students undergo backpack check. Elementary student brought loaded handgun to school (Published April 24, 2008)

  • Article: Authorities question parent of student who brought gun to school (Published April 24, 2008)


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    Sarah27728
    Comments: 73
    Joined: 10/23/2007
    05/02/2008 12:27:59 PM
    i agree! how did this little boy get posession of a gun thats Loaded already? i've tried to think of any innocent circumstances that would have allowed this kid to 'find' this gun. but i keep coming back to negligence on the part of the parents!! the gun must have been sittin in a drawer.. or in an unlocked gun case.. or something. my personal opinion is that if you're going to have a gun in the house w/ a child, to NEVER keep it loaded and keep both the guns and bullets in seperate LOCKED spots.

     
    kateyes
    Comments: 1
    Joined: 05/01/2008
    05/01/2008 11:11:20 PM
    what is this world coming to ? when a young child has access to a handgun and brings it to school i mean really ..its so scary
     
    juga
    Comments: 239
    Joined: 02/05/2007
    05/01/2008 07:26:57 PM
    I cannot even begin to think how a child got possession of a gun and clip. It makes no difference to me if the parents knew he brought it or not. The child should have never been able to get possession in the first place. My understanding is that he brought to trade for something else. The two boys made the transfer at school. The loaded gun stayed in the school all day long. Of course the school officials didn't know to check bags, but the episode could have been so tragic. As far as being on the bus with the gun, I am not sure how that happened. I can't imagine a driver to continue route knowing a gun was on the bus. Of course, I cant believe a parent would allow accessibility to a gun. I don't care what the charges are, but there needs some accountability for the parents.
     
    maggie
    Comments: 1360
    Joined: 01/08/2006
    05/01/2008 04:59:01 PM
    I didn't realize that, I thought it was just the boy who brought it and he showed it to the boy who told the bus driver. Too think what could have happened is just terrifying.
     
    hoosiermama
    Comments: 393
    Joined: 11/14/2007
    05/01/2008 04:23:37 PM
    maggie:
    Actually 2 boys had possession of the gun at various times. One brought it to school, and then later gave it to another boy.

    Yes, I believe the parents who actually own the gun having some explaining to do!
     
    maggie
    Comments: 1360
    Joined: 01/08/2006
    05/01/2008 03:57:50 PM
    Hoosier, that doesn't surprise me, mostly because school systems don't want "bad" pubicity. That is more important than the safety and well being of our kids. I am glad your friend is speaking out and telling what really happened. Shame on that bus driver for not stopping the bus immediately and calling the police. How stupid can a person be??????

    Sarah, just for the record, it was one boy who brought the gun. He showed it to the other boy and that child went to the bus driver, but was apparently ignored.

    I also want to know how a child got ahold of a loaded weapon in the first place? Where are his parents brains???? I am not against guns or gun ownership, but owning guns requires great responsibility and caution, especially when you have children in the house!!!!
     
    hoosiermama
    Comments: 393
    Joined: 11/14/2007
    05/01/2008 03:25:53 PM
    I work with the mother of the son that notified the bus driver that there was a gun on the bus. According to Sheriff Wilson in this article, the driver immediately notified school administrators..... Not so according to this Mom. She is very upset that the bus driver told her son to go back and sit down in his seat, and then he continued on his route.... with a loaded weapon on board and still in the possession of the other youngster!!! She is not happy and has told her story on the local television stations. I hope that this thing doesn't get swept under the rug. The bus driver did not respond in a fashion that would indicate he deemed this an immediate threat.... I do hope that there is some sort of investigation into this matter.
     
    Sarah27728
    Comments: 73
    Joined: 10/23/2007
    05/01/2008 02:23:51 PM
    This is awful. My good friend's little girl is in Preschool at Cherokee Ridge. I hate to imagine all the 'what-ifs' that come to mind. These boys should be expelled.

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