Police are investigating a shooting that injured a 6-year-old boy last week at an elementary school in Leland, N.C.
The Port City Daily reports that a bullet "likely fired from a great distance" Friday struck the boy in the jaw at Lincoln Elementary School. He is recovering at home and is in good condition, according to the Brunswick County school district.
Detectives believe the incident was accidental, likely the result of someone shooting on nearby private property.
Police were canvassing the area surrounding the school to determine where the gunfire originated.
“It is like ‘trying to find a needle in a haystack,’’ Brunswick County Sheriff’s Spokesperson Emily Flax said, “but that is what we do — we look for those needles and will leave no stone left unturned.”
While the investigation is underway, the school has closed the playground and is offering an indoor recess option moving forward.
Some parents of Lincoln Elementary students kept their children home from school Monday because of the incident.
Parents expressed concern about the school’s response. There was no lockdown or 911 call, and the injury was initially reported as a fall.
On Saturday, parents received a call from the school principal describing the incident as a “suspected fall” and stating there would be a crisis team on campus Monday. Then, a second call went out Sunday informing the parents about the bullet wound.
“A lockdown and an ambulance for that baby should have been done at the very minimum,” said parent Christina Walker Mayhew, who kept her two daughters home Monday. “I am appalled.”
District spokesperson Daniel Seamans said no one called 911 because of a miscommunication in which a staff member thought someone else made the call. The school was not placed under lockdown because no one reported hearing gunshots, he added.
The student was assessed Friday by the school nurse, and the parent was notified and came to pick up the child before going to the emergency room.
