Bullet grazes teacher after gun goes off in 14-year-old’s backpack, Tennessee police say
A Tennessee high school student was taken into custody after a gun in his backpack accidentally fired, police said.
Knoxville police responded to reports of a gun discharging in a classroom on April 28, according to a Facebook post from the Knoxville Police Department.
Police said the gun was inside a 14-year-old boy’s backpack when it went off. The bullet, or a bullet fragment, grazed a teacher.
The teacher sustained “very minor” injuries, according to police, and no other injuries were reported.
Knox County Schools Superintendent Jon Rysewyk told WBIR he met with school staff, including the injured teacher, after going into a “medium” lockdown, and students were dismissed early.
Police said the student was taken into custody and the gun had been confiscated.
The student has been charged with reckless endangerment, reckless aggravated assault and possession of a weapon on school grounds, but his identity was not released due to his age, according to police.
Rysewyk said the high school does not have metal detectors but does conduct random searches as a preventative measure, WSMV reported.
The shooting comes just one month after a school shooter killed six people in Nashville, about 180 miles west of Knoxville. The shooting sparked national protests, The Associated Press reported, and discourse about school safety and gun control in the Tennessee legislature.
“This is horrific,” state Rep. Gloria Johnson, one of the Democratic representatives who protested gun violence in the state capitol, said in a Facebook post about the Knoxville shooting.
“It’s a miracle no one was injured fatally, but this should be setting off alarms for lawmakers – regardless of party,” she wrote. “We can’t rely on luck next time.”
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