Patti Dozier
THOMASVILLE — A second-grader at a Cairo elementary school was released to his parents after being charged with having two semi-automatic pistols at school.
The boy, 9, is charged with carrying a weapon at school, a felony, in the Friday incident.
A Northside Elementary School teacher saw what appeared to be a pistol magazine in another student’s mouth, said Keith Sandefur, Cairo police chief.
“He said it was a harmonica,” Sandefur explained about the eight-year-old boy.
Another student told the teacher the pistol was in the boy’s desk, and another firearm was in his bookbag. The nine-year-old suspect was in the same class, the chief said.
Sandefur did not know if the .25 and 9mm pistols were loaded.
Investigators believe the older boy took the firearms to school and placed them in the younger student’s desk and bookbag.
“The teacher took both weapons and called us,” Sandefur said.
The young suspect told police he brought the firearms from his home.
The chief said investigators do not think the eight-year-old knew the firearms were in his desk and bookbag or that the object in his mouth was a pistol magazine.
“We did not find any involvement of the eight-year-old,” the chief said.
The suspect’s parents have not been charged.
Disposition of the case will be handled by the Bainbridge-based Juvenile Justice office of the South Georgia Judicial Circuit.
