Baltimore City Public School officials said Friday they will not install metal detectors at city schools despite Thursday?s incident in which an 8-year-old brought a 22-caliber handgun to Grove Park Elementary School ? and the weapon accidentally fired.
“Metal detectors are not a panacea to solve all of society?s problems,” said School Police Chief Antonio Williams. “The Baltimore City Public School System is not going to go out today and wholesale buy metal detectors.”
Baltimore City has had only two incidents of students bringing guns into school this year, he said.
“This is not a systemic Baltimore City School System problem,” he said. “There are issues in the community.”
Parents interviewed Friday outside Grove Park in Northwest Baltimore said the incident concerned them, but the school is excellent.
Daryl Long, whose 5-year-old daughter, Kaila, attends kindergarten at Grove Park, said he was not afraid for his daughter.
“It?s a wonderful school,” he said.
Stephanie Melette, who has two children in kindergarten, said she called the school to find out what happened after the incident.
“It?s not the school,” she said. “It?s the parents at home.”
Baltimore City Public School officials said no one was injured after the revolver went off in a desk in a classroom Thursday afternoon.
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. Police charged the 8-year-old who brought the gun to school, but not the other student.
Williams said investigators are trying to determine how the 8-year-old, who was charged and released, got the gun.
“We?re doing our best to determine where the gun came from,” Williams said. “We don?t know whether or not the gun was owned by an adult.”
