Honolulu Fire Spokesman Earle Kealoha confirms a student at Highlands Intermediate brought a gun to school this morning. Kealoha tells KITV4 news the student was showing a gun to several other students around 7am this morning, and allegedly pointed it at one of them. That student pushed the gun away, causing the gun to discharge. The second boy was grazed on his abdomen, but nothing penetrated his skin. Kealoha says a third student who was walking away suffered injuries to three fingers, requiring bandages. Honolulu Police Capt. Lester Hite tells KITV4 News the gun was a 45-caliber semi-automatic glock.
At 8:10am, a spokesperson for the Department of Educationi told KITV4's Kenny Choi a suspect had been apprehended by school security, and the campus had been secured. An official with Highlands Intermediate would not release details of the incident, but said the school would stay open.
Several parents said they only learned of the incident when they were sent text messages from their children. 12-year-old Tiffany Acker tells KITV4 she saw a boy with a towel over his hand in the school's gymnasium this morning, and heard that "a boy shot another boy." She sent a text message to her mother Venus, who came to campus to take her daughter out of school. Venus Acker said she was not informed about the incident by Highlands Intermediate School officials.
This week is the last week of school for Highlands Intermediate students, and several have off-campus field trips. Today is also the school's 8th grade banquet.
Read more: http://www.kitv.com/news/27993355/detail.html#ixzz1NF3yzevN
Replies
It seems to me that a gun on campus is just more than a share. And to point a gun at another student as a simple gesture seems hardly plausible. For that gun to go off and actually fire that was intentional from my perspective. That child needs to be put away in an institution for rehabilitation and not just expelled from school. The person that bought that gun and registered it should also go to jail for not securing his gun in a locked case.
This is not just a referral for any staff at Highlands--this is pure criminal with malice and with intent to shoot his target.
How many more students are packing? And why? Where are the adults? Anybody talked with other students and security guards? You would be surprise to hear the many stories of guns, bullying, and serious threats on any given eduational institute. This problem needs to be taken seriously! Today we were lucky!