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Friday, March 29, 2024

Fourth-grader disciplined after toy guns found in another student’s backpack

A Marion County school resource officer was called into action Thursday to investigate claims that a fourth-grader had brought a toy gun to school.

The Marion Oaks Elementary student told the principal and guidance counselor that the toy was no longer in his backpack and he didn’t know where it was. The resource officer, who is a sheriff’s deputy, also spoke with the student and he continued to deny knowing what happened to the toy gun, a sheriff’s office report states.

The school’s administration then made the decision to search the told the backpacks belonging to every fourth-grade student. The school’s dean found two toy guns in one student’s backpack. She then told the dean that the other student said he “would get in trouble” with his mother if she knew he brought toy guns to school, so she took them from him and placed them in her backpack, the report says.

The fourth-grader then admitted that he brought the guns to school so that his little brother wouldn’t take them, as he was wanting to play with them. But he denied giving the guns to the other student and said that “someone must have stolen them” out of his backpack.

The fourth-grader’s mother was called to the school and told about the incident. She asked the dean to keep the toy guns, as she didn’t want to take them home.
The dean disposed of the toy guns and the school handled disciplinary action against the students in accordance with the Marion County School Board’s policies and procedures, the report says.