Police called after 4-year-old pulled out a loaded pistol magazine at Hilton Head preschool
Police were called to the Hilton Head Island Early Childhood Center on Friday after a 4-year-old pulled a loaded firearm magazine from his backpack during class, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The principal at the school, which educates students up to kindergarten, told police that a teacher alerted her to the situation after the student pulled out the magazine, which had 14 rounds of live ammunition it. When he was questioned, the 4-year-old did not want to talk and “began to get upset,” police said in the report.
School officials called the child’s parents, and the boy’s mother said the magazine is normally in the glove compartment of her car and must have fallen out when she tried to get something of it.
That morning, the boy accidentally spilled the contents of his backpack across the backseat of the car before he was dropped off at school, the mother said. She told police she believes he grabbed the loaded magazine while picking up his belongings and packing it back in his bag.
The boy “knows not to touch the magazine or weapons but must have grabbed it under the seat,” the mother told police.
Police said the magazine ws for a handgun but did not give the caliber.
The Beaufort County School District does not comment on student disciplinary matters or active law enforcement investigations, per policy.
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 10:07 AM.
