A gun accidentally discharged inside a Texas elementary school cafeteria on Thursday after a child allegedly brought the firearm to school, according to the Dallas Independent School District.
The incident occurred before classes began as breakfast was served at John W Carpenter Elementary School in Dallas, a Dallas ISD official told ABC News.
The district official said no one was injured.
“I didn’t know what to think, what to feel… Just came over immediately,” parent Brandy Fields told ABC News Dallas affiliate WFAA. “She’s safe, so [deep breath].”
John W Carpenter Elementary School, the scene of an accidental gun discharge, stands in Dallas, Texas, Oct. 13, 2022.
WFAA
Fields told the station her daughter went directly to her class, but another student told her daughter a child was showing off a gun inside the cafeteria before it fired.
"My friend told me she almost got shot today,” Fields’ daughter, 5th-grade student Abbey told WFAA. "I was so confused. She told me someone brung [sic] a gun, and they were showing it to everybody. And while they was playing with it, it went off."
A police car patrols near John W Carpenter Elementary School, the scene of an accidental gun discharge, stands in Dallas, Texas, Oct. 13, 2022.
WFAA
Following the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old suspect fatally shot 19 students and two teachers, Dallas ISD decided to require sixth to 12th-grade students to wear clear or mesh backpacks.
“By being able to easily see the items in the backpacks as students enter the school, campus personnel will be able to ensure that prohibited items are not included among the students’ belongings,” Dallas ISD wrote on its website. “Clear or mesh backpacks will also speed up students entering the school at the beginning of the day because opening and inspecting every backpack may not be necessary.”
The Dallas Police Department is investigating the incident.
