4-year-old had loaded Smith & Wesson at Pre-K - and was showing it off, NC cops say

A 4-year-old was caught showing off a fully loaded Smith & Wesson pistol to his pre-kindergarten classmates on Thursday, according to police in Mount Gilead Police, North Carolina.

The pistol was found after a teacher at Mt. Gilead Elementary School grew suspicious of the student “showing other students an item in a book bag during class,” according to a police press release.

“The teacher went to examine what was in the book bag and observed what appeared to be a firearm,” said a release. “When officers arrived, they confirmed the suspected weapon was a 9 millimeter Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun, containing a fully loaded magazine.”

The boy was “suspended for the remainder of the year” and his mother, 38-year-old Sadira Hitchcock, “faces a misdemeanor charge of of failure to secure a firearm from a minor,” reported Fox 8.

Read more here: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article225419935.html