ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Police in St. Petersburg say a middle school student shot herself on a school bus Tuesday morning. She is in a safe condition at the hospital.
It took place at 9:20 a.m. near 17th Avenue North and 49th Street North.
According to the police, the bus with 20 kids on it on their way to Tyrone Middle School was shot.
Police manager for community awareness in St. Pete, Yolanda Fernandez, said that no one else was hurt or attacked and that the 13-year-old brought the gun on board.
Fernandez said that kids on the bus heard a pop and yelled that someone had been shot. A block away, the bus driver stopped. There, she saw a police officer and waved him down for help.
Fernandez said, “This is a huge worry.” “There is a 13-year-old girl who is shot while on her way to middle school with a bus full of kids.” There are a lot of things that went wrong in this case. There is a worry for the safety of the other children in this case because of the young girl who should not have been able to get a gun or bring one onto a school bus.
The teen was taken to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital by ambulance.
“We don’t know how this young girl obtained this gun, how she got it, but it shouldn’t be that easy for a 13-year-old to have a weapon,” said Fernandez. “It’s very important. It’s very bad because, on the bus, another kid could have also been hurt. No other kids were hurt, which is a good thing, but it’s still a big worry for us. And parents should talk to their kids about how dangerous guns are. If they know someone with a gun, they should tell an adult and stay away from that person.
Detectives are trying to figure out what happened, whether the wound from the gunshot was intentional, and how the teen got the gun. The police said the bullet left the bus on the side between the two Ls in Pinellas.
Levi Viera, who is eleven years old, was sitting in front of the teen on the bus when the gun went off.
“I was scared,” said Levi Viera. “I thought it was like a balloon at first being popped until I smelled the gunpowder, and she started screaming.”
Every morning while Levi is on the bus, he texts his mom, Elissa Viera.
“He had to give a presentation today and was scared. He told his mom, ‘Mom, I’m so scared.'” “I told them it was fine.” Elissa Viera told them.
“He told me, ‘Love you.'” After telling her “I love you more,” I got a text message that said, “I’m scared, Mom.” There was a shooting. “My heart just sank,” Elissa Viera said.
She ran along the bus route quickly and saw that police officers were all around her son’s bus.
“I was scared. It scared me, and then it made me angry because anything could have happened. “I felt sad about what he had to see and what all the other students had to see, as well as what this girl had just been through,” Viera said.
Another thing she said was that she doesn’t want her son to ride the bus anymore and that she doesn’t think the event has hit him yet.
Elessa Viera said, “It’s a lot for any kid, not just an 11-year-old.”
She asked, “Why did a 13-year-old girl have a gun?”
“How did she get the gun?” I had no idea it was going to happen. Levi Viera said, “There was no warning before it happened.”
The following was said about the killing by Pinellas County Schools:
She asked, “Why did a 13-year-old girl have a gun?”
“How did she get the gun?” I had no idea it was going to happen. Levi Viera said, “There was no warning before it happened.”
The following was said about the killing by Pinellas County Schools:
Source: St. Pete Teen Hospitalized After Accidental Self-Inflicted Gunshot on School Bus, Police Report
