SAN ANTONIO – Edgewood ISD Police Chief Jesse Quiroga said two students are in trouble after a sixth grader was shot in the leg with an airsoft gun. The victim is physically okay, according to the victim’s mother.
On Friday, December 3, the sixth grader at E.T. Wrenn Middle School was in art class when she felt a sharp pain.
“She said at first it felt like a pinch, but then it went into a throbbing,” Sylvia Durham said. Durham is the mother of the victim. A friend had to help the victim to her seat.
“One of her classmates found a small pellet on the floor and brought it to their teacher,” Durham said.
Teachers, administrators and police officers at the school soon determined a male classmate brought two airsoft guns to school.
“He was showing them off to another student,” Quiroga said. “The other student that was being shown the guns made the inappropriate or wrong decision of taking one of the guns out and (shooting) it underneath the desk.”
The pellet left a red mark on the victim’s back right thigh.
Both students were later removed from the classroom and now face disciplinary actions at school.
According to Quiroga, the student who shot the plastic pellet also has legal consequences to deal with.
“The victim’s parent wanted to pursue charges against that person,” Quiroga said. ”Charges were pursued and the child was taken into custody and delivered to the Bexar County Juvenile Detention Center.”
A decision by the victim’s mother intended to send a message to all students.
“As a parent, your worst fear is getting a call from school where you can’t protect your child, knowing something happened to them,” Durham said. “Play guns, real guns, shooting people is nothing to play about.”
Still, questions remain.
“Why they did that to her and why they had this gun at school and how they had this gun at school,” Durham said. “We have to put something in place so that these kids are not making these bad decisions that could mess up their lives.”
As part of the investigation, officers spoke to the student who brought the campus about why he did it.
“(It wasn’t) a thought-out choice,” Quiroga said. “Unfortunately we see that a lot (with our) juveniles. They were not trying to aim at anyone specifically however, their actions were still reckless and those are the things we need to talk to our kids about. I think communication is key. If we start communicating with our children more, we are going to see a lot of prevention of these types of incidents.”
According to Durham, her daughter hasn’t returned to class since the incident at she’s still shaken up. Now, Durham must decide if she will transfer her to a different school. Per the contract given to Durham, the district would not be able to provide transportation to a new campus, making the decision even harder for the family.