Parents with students attending Canty Elementary School are demanding answers after a fifth grader was caught with a BB gun outside the building.
The primary concern that the parents have is that the incident was not handled properly by the school administrators. The surrounding neighborhood in the area is filled with cop and firefighter families and they understand how these incidents can quickly escalate into a tragic situation.
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Around 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning, a police dispatcher stated that an 11-year-old male was spotted walking to a school located on the 3700 block of Panama. The dispatcher claimed that the student was armed with a gun and that he was waving it around while wearing a white hoodie and baseball cap.
As it turns out, it was a BB gun. Parents explained that the child had bought it from a fifth grader at the school.
“Actually when I saw the cop cars here, I wanted to take my kids out of school, not knowing what was going on,” Karen Gentile, a parent, told WGN.
During drop off on Monday morning, parents arrived to see three Chicago police cars at the school. They were alarmed at the sight and weren’t filled in on the situation until each student was sent home with a letter in their backpack saying that a child had brought a dangerous object to school.
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“I’m thinking [it was] a rock not a BB gun,” Steve Siavelis, a parent, said.
The parents believed that the “dangerous object” being a BB gun made the threat far worse than they had anticipated. They were upset with how the school handled the situation and frustrated they were not given further information about what happened.
“It’s my job to protect my daughter and I can’t do it and I rely on them,” Jeff Rakowiecki, a parent, said.
The principal refused to comment on the situation. However, there is a school council meeting being held on Tuesday at the school with parents planning to attend.
