U-R update

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Authorities are still investigating how a gun came to be in an 8-year-old’s book bag after the weapon discharged Friday in a Lakeview Academy classroom. 

The firearm, which was stolen from a local resident’s home in a burglary last month, ejected a round into the floor of the student’s classroom as he removed items from his book bag Friday morning. 

According to an incident report from the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Christopher Jackson responded to a Vinson Highway address Oct. 14 in regard to a burglary at the residence. The deputy met with a man who said someone had entered his home and stolen a Smith & Wesson 9 mm pistol. The man said he left his house three days earlier, on Oct. 11, and returned around 6 p.m. Oct. 13 to find his pistol missing. He told the deputy he believed that a cousin of his was responsible for stealing the pistol and had confronted him about the theft, but said the cousin had denied taking weapon. At the time, the man declined to give the deputy his cousin’s name because the cousin was “in enough trouble already,” according to the incident report. 

While Jackson was unable to obtain the cousin’s name, the deputy did lift latent fingerprints from the outside door handle of the residence. 

After responding to Lakewiew Academy and gathering details of Friday’s incident, BCSO Deputy Oscar Garcia arrested the student and transported him to the Baldwin County Law Enforcement Center. During questioning by BCSO interviewers, both the boy and his mother said they did not know how the gun ended up in the child’s backpack, and police released the boy into his mother’s custody. Baldwin County School District officials have barred the student from all school system property pending results of a school system tribunal hearing, and Monday announced that all elementary level students, through fifth grade, will be required  after Thanksgiving break to use only clear or mesh book bags. Middle and high school students were already required to have clear or mesh book bags.