Seven-year-old brings loaded gun to Dorchester school

On Thursday, a 7-year-old student turned up at a Dorchester school with a loaded gun. Up Academy Holland, which has nearly 800 K5 students, alerted authorities, who responded by 3:30 p.m. and were able to take the gun from the student.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has said that the person who allowed the child to get near a gun should face consequences.

“The person responsible for allowing access to this weapon is going to be held accountable,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “No child should be near a weapon, much less directly endangered at such a young age.”

“Thanks to the swift action and coordination of school staff, Boston police, and first responders, this situation was immediately identified and safely addressed,” Wu added.

BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper said she is working with city and state on a daily basis to improve school safety for students.

“This is truly devastating,” Skipper said in a statement. “We have to ask ourselves how a very young student becomes in possession of and gains access to a firearm.”

“We’re grateful to BPD and first responders who were on the scene immediately. But we cannot do this work alone,” Skipper went onto say. “When a young person gets access to a gun out of accessibility, we really have to ask ourselves, how does this happen?”

“A loaded gun is a different level of, you know, what does that say about us a city, as a society? How do we protect our youngest, most vulnerable students?” City Councilor Erin Murphy said during an interview with NBC10 Boston.

Murphy said the results could have been tragic if the gun had been discharged.

“Had they thought it was a toy, or not realizing, or got nervous, somebody could have easily been dead,” Murphy said.

“It’s scary,” she went on to say. “It’s scary for him, the child, knowing he’s exposed to that, for his classmates, his teacher.”