According to Lewiston Public Schools, the student was unaware the gun was in his bag and reported it to a teacher.
Police and school officials in Lewiston, Maine say they are actively investigating how a handgun ended up in an elementary school classroom on Thursday.
According to Lewiston Public Schools superintendent Jake Langlais, the gun had rounds in it but they were not in a part of the weapon from which they could easily be fired or allow the weapon to go off accidentally.
During a Friday interview with NECN/NBC 10 Boston, Langlais explained that the student was a young boy who "self-reported" the gun to his teacher after discovering a wallet in his backpack at the end of the school day around dismissal.
"The student was unaware it was in his backpack," he said, adding that the boy’s teacher immediately notified school administration and the school resource officer who took possession of the bag and gun.
"My mind went instantly to, isolate this and figure it out right now," Langlais said, of his first thoughts after he was contacted about the incident.
Langlais communicated to parents about what happened in a letter Thursday evening and, since then, has had a conversation with the boy’s parents about the incident.
The boy was home from school on Friday while the first parts of the investigation were being completed.
"In a conversation with the family it turns out that there were multiple bags near each other and that is where this firearm was stored within a wallet, it was put in the wrong bag," Langlais said, adding that the boy’s mother was "very honest and felt terrible," based on the discussion he had with her yesterday.
Because of the circumstances of the incident, Langlais said he is optimistic that the boy will be able to return to class soon, rather than be punished for bringing the weapon to class.
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"I believe he did the right thing," Langlais said, explaining that "we just want to make sure there is no future opportunities for this to happen again."
"I almost feel like maybe the student should be recognized for doing the right thing because this could’ve gone very differently," he added, noting the boy "could’ve said nothing, this student could’ve just zipped the bag up and gone home."
Asked about a big, overall takeaway from the incident, Langlais replied that he thinks "the biggest thing for us is that relationship the teacher had with the student because the student felt safe enough to say 'I have this thing and I shouldn’t.'"
"This student made the right decision because they could trust their teacher enough to do that, I think it’s critical that the relationships are in place, that we treat kids as well as we can.. it goes a long way to deterring things that could go poorly," he said.
As for whether or not there will be charges filed, Lewiston Police say their investigation remains open and the area district attorney will make a final determination on that.
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