BREMERTON, Wash. -- A third-grade student is in critical condition at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center after being shot in the abdomen Wednesday by another student at a Bremerton elementary school.
The girl, 8, was shot by another third-grade student at Armin Jahr Elementary School just before school let out at 1:30 p.m., according to Bremerton police. The alleged shooter, a boy, has been detained by police.
The girl has been identified as Amina Bowman. Her grandmother, Cindy Kocer, told KING-TV that her family expects Amina to be OK, but is asking the community for prayers.
Lt. Peter Fisher wouldn't release information about the alleged shooter or the victim. He also didn't address whether police believe the shooting was intentional or accidental.
"We're very early on in our investigation," Fisher said. "We're in the process of processing evidence and conducting interviews."
Bremerton police and emergency crews were dispatched to the school at 1:29 p.m. in response to a call that a student had been shot by another student. Authorities say a firearm was found in a classroom.
The Bremerton Schools superintendent's office said the school was locked down after the shooting, but the lockdown was lifted a short while later.
Live TV news footage showed students leaving the school. Police say parents were being allowed to pick up their kids on foot. Children were shown being escorted out of the building about a half-hour after the shooting.
The school has about 400 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, according to Bremerton Schools spokeswoman Patty Glaser.
An Airlift Northwest helicopter landed at Bremerton's Harrison Hospital after the shooting and airlifted Amina to Harborview.
As of 3:45 p.m., Amina was in critical condition and undergoing surgery, said Susan Gregg, spokeswoman for Harborview Medical Center. She arrived at the hospital at 3 p.m. and was in surgery less than five minutes later, Gregg said.
Gregg declined to say how many gunshots the girl suffered or where she was shot.
The girl was reported out of surgery shortly after 5 p.m.
Parent Sharrae Sevier, of Port Orchard, said her son, Darnell, was in a classroom next to the class where the shooting took place. He told his mother he heard a loud bang and a short time later a voice came over the intercom telling the students the school was on lock down.
"They were all huddled together under the teacher's desk, and everything was really quiet," Sevier said.
Darnell told her he was confused and had no idea what had happened, she said.
Parents and their children were in tears when they were reunited in the school gym, she said.
"It was probably one of the scariest days of my life," said Sevier, 26. "A little over an hour was like an eternity to me, just not knowing."
Taylor Sumpter, 19, who has lived across the street from the school all his life, did not hear gunfire but looked outside about 1:30 and saw a sheriff's deputy's car parked on his lawn.
"I went outside and I saw a whole bunch of cop cars swarming around the school and swarming the neighborhood." He saw a couple of helicopters, one with a news crew and the other coming to evacuate the wounded student.
"I didn't stay out there long," he said. "I have a young cousin here, and I wanted to make sure he was safe."
Armin Jahr school will reopen Thursday, said Linda Jenkins, the district's assistant superintendent. Counselors will be on hand and substitute teachers will also be available to assist any teachers who need help, she said.
Bremerton School Board member Dave Boynton called the shooting a "rare, isolated incident."
Boynton said the School Board would review safety procedures after seeing the results of the police investigation.
"Right now our concern is with the child and how the child's doing," he said. "Obviously this is a tragedy."
The shooting is the first at a Washington school since February 2010, when 30-year-old Jed Waits, of Ellensburg, fatally shot Jennifer Paulson, a special-education teacher at Birney Elementary School in Tacoma. Waits later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The last shooting involving a student was in January 2007 when Douglas Chanthabouly fatally shot fellow student Samnang Kok in a hallway before the start of classes at Tacoma's Foss High School. Chanthabouly's lawyers said he had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and thought Kok was a member of a street gang out to hurt him and his brother.
Chanthabouly was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to more than 23 years in prison.
In October, Snohomish High School freshmen April Lutz and Bekah Staudacher were stabbed in a school restroom, allegedly by another student.
Seattle Times staff reporters Jack Broom, Brian M. Rosenthal and Emily Heffter and news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report, which includes information from The Associated Press and The Kitsap Sun.
Copyright 2012 - The Seattle Times
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
