SMITHFIELD, Va. — One mom is questioning safety procedures at her son's school after she said a student pointed a BB gun at him in the middle of the school day.
School administrators said it happened at Smithfield High School on Monday.
Smithfield High School staff sent the following message to families after the incident:
“A student in a cafeteria restroom displayed a BB gun to another student as that student entered the facility. The student who entered the restroom immediately left and notified school administrators of the situation. The student with the BB gun was immediately removed from the restroom and the BB gun was confiscated.
Administrators and the School Resource Officer determined the weapon was not loaded and no BBs were located on the student. Prior to going to the restroom, the student had been in the same classroom all morning. The school is working closely with law enforcement on the situation as well as handling this as a student discipline matter in accordance with division policy and procedure.”
But a mother of the student who reported the incident said it left her son shaken.
“He said, 'Mom, I just froze, my heart stopped, I didn’t know what to do,'” said parent Monica Ponton.
In school Monday, Ponton said her son ran into a student in the bathroom who had what looked like a real gun. She recounted what he told her about that moment.
“...When he turns around, the gun is pointed at his chest,” Ponton said.
Ponton said her son immediately notified a school staff member and the principal. She said the principal went back to the bathroom with the student.
“They get back to the restroom... and then she sends him back to class,” Ponton said. “So, my son that has suffered this terribly traumatic situation and is so upset…”
It’s not until later that Ponton said the principal told her son they took an unloaded BB gun from the student.
Ponton said she met with the principal and a school resource officer (SRO) and they told her the SRO was off the day of the incident, so they called the middle school SRO for help.
“God forbid that this was a gun and this had gone horribly awry, there is not even a police on the premises, there is not even any backup, the police hadn’t even been notified,” Ponton said. “The SRO didn’t even know there was a gun until he had come all the way over here.”
Ponton doesn’t feel staff met this incident with urgency.
“I feel like the parents have a right to know, the students have the right to know what happened and certainly someone could be held accountable,” Ponton said.
13News Now asked an Isle of Wight Spokeswoman what safety procedures staff followed that day.
The spokeswoman said they won’t share specifics about their safety measures or the student, but said school administrators followed proper procedure.