A recent spate of violence and dangerous activity in and around several Baltimore City schools continued Thursday when an 8-year-old third-grader brought a 22-caliber handgun to Grove Park Elementary School in Northwest Baltimore ? and the weapon accidentally fired.
Baltimore City public school officials said no one was injured after the revolver went off in a classroom in the afternoon.
School Police Chief Antonio Williams said the gun was inside the child?s desk when it was fired, and that is where the shell was later found.
Despite initial reports that the gun was discharged following a struggle between two students, Williams said investigators now believe the gun went off accidentally after one student showed the weapon to the other, who apparently believed it to be a toy replica of a real handgun.
The school was not evacuated, and instruction continued to the end of the day, school spokeswoman Vanessa Pyatt said. The incident came a day after a 13-year-old girl at Pimlico Middle School stabbed a 14-year-old female classmate with a 10-inch kitchen knife. School police arrested the younger student in that case Wednesday and charged her with first- and second-degree assault and possession of a deadly weapon with intent to injure, Williams said.
The victim was treated at Sinai Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries to both arms, and has been released.
Also Wednesday afternoon, for several hours, about 200 pupils were barricaded inside Holabird Elementary School, 1500 Imla St. Southeast Baltimore City, when city police responded to a nearby shooting off school property.
On Tuesday, two female students at Digital Harbor High in Federal Hill were arrested and charged after their fight outside the school drew about 100 students, Williams said.
