BB gun pointed at boy's head while at school

HOUSTON – A sixth-grader had a BB gun pointed at his head at Key Middle School in northeast Houston on Monday.

The victim's parents said they dropped their son off at school thinking he would be safe and protected. But a phone call they got less than an hour into the school day shattered their sense of security.

"He put it to my head and said I was going to die today," student John Benjamin Jr. said. "I was scared. I thought he was really going to shoot me."

The BB gun was unloaded, but Benjamin didn't know that and said the threat felt real.

"I thought he was serious," he said.

Benjamin notified the campus police officer who confiscated the gun and took the student into custody.

"When they said gun, everything stopped," father John Benjamin Sr. said.

Benjamin's parents said they first heard about from the incident from their child who borrowed a classmate's cellphone after he said the school would not allow him to use the office phone.

"I'm not happy with the way I was notified through my son when the school knew," mother Regina Benjamin said. "When the school knew, I should have been the first person that got a call."

The principal sent a letter home to parents that said in part:

"Please know that we take these situations very seriously, as the safety of our students and staff at Key Middle School is always our absolute top priority. Children sometimes think of BB guns as toys, but they can still be dangerous and should not be brought to school."

But the Benjamins say more needs to be done.

"I asked the lady, when I get my son up and off to school how am I going to know he's safe. She told me to pray," Regina Benjamin said. "That's it. Pray about it. That's all I got from her was to pray. If y'all can't keep my child safe, why are y'all even open? Y'all need to go ahead and close the school down. No point in school being open."


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