Kindergarten student found with gun at Pittsburgh elementary school

PITTSBURGH — A kindergarten student was found with a gun at Pittsburgh Allegheny K-5 school Friday morning, according to police.

Investigators said a staff member was helping at the school’s metal detector inside the entrance when the gun was found inside the 6-year-old’s backpack.

Police submitted a report to Childline. Students’ parents and guardians were notified about the incident in a letter sent home.

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According to the child’s father, it was a combination of errors. He said the gun is registered and licensed to the mother’s boyfriend, who put the gun underneath a couch. He said the boy’s mother had just looked into his backpack and it was empty.

“She went to get dressed, and he went back downstairs and he took the gun that was under the couch and put it into his bookbag,” the father said.

According to the boy’s father, he likely wanted to show his friends but quickly realized the severity of what had happened when he got to school and the metal detector went off.

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