PASADENA, Texas – A local elementary school student brought a loaded gun into his classroom.
Pasadena ISD says a first grader brought a handgun from home to Kruse Elementary School on Park Lane Monday morning. The district says the student was showing off the gun to other students, one of whom told a teacher.
The child and the gun were removed from the classroom and the child's parents were called.
The gun was not discharged. District officials said the boy brought the gun from home.
The district says a phone call was made to the families of all the students in the classroom.
A letter to parents was sent home Monday afternoon and read in part, "As you know, the safety of our students is always the top priority and I want to address this matter with you from my heart. This is very serious, it is not taken lightly. Guns are not allowed at school. More importantly, please take this incident as an opportunity to talk to your child about gun safety."
Several parents were dismayed that school officials did not inform them immediately after the incident.
"That's crazy. You know they should have let us know as soon as everything happened. That's our kids, you know," said parent Yessinia Medina.
Pasadena ISD officials tell Local 2, school district officials met immediately after the 9 a.m. incident and thought the best course of action would to call parents with children in the actual classroom where the gun was shown and other parents would be notified by letter.
"We're always looking do better, and so were going look at this and see if it possible next time that could we call everybody," said Renea Ivy, Asst. Superintendent at Pasadena ISD.
She said police issued a misdemeanor citation to the parents of the child who brought the gun to school.
"They were upset, shocked he had the gun," Ivy said.