Unloaded handgun found on school bus

Thursday, September 1, 2011

SIKESTON -- A parent's observation ultimately led to the discovery of an unloaded handgun on a Sikeston R-6 school bus Wednesday.

Early in the school day Wednesday, the district received information from a parent who said there may be an elementary child who has a weapon, according to Sikeston R-6 Superintendent Steve Borgsmiller.

"School officials started looking at who rides the bus, what schools do they go to, and one thing led to the other, and finally the Scott County Juvenile Office and Sikeston Department of Public Safety intervened," Borgsmiller said.

A child was identified as one who attended Matthews Elementary or the Fifth and Sixth Grade Center and who may have been talking about guns on the way home from school.

After the two schools were locked down, law enforcement discovered where the weapon was -- which was confirmed by the parent who was cooperative with law enforcement -- the lockdown was released, the superintendent said.

"With that, they determined they needed to search the bus. When they searched the bus, they found a gun wedged between the seat and the bus," Borgsmiller said, noting the gun was not visible. "You couldn't see the gun, and if you didn't know to look for it, you could never find it."

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