News
Athens Bus Allegedly Shot By 12-Year-Old Boy And His BB Gun
By: Merle Tilk
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The school bus that had a window shattered on Wednesday afternoon was allegedly shot by a 12-year-old boy. While bringing students home from Morrison-Gordon Elementary School the bus got shot by a BB gun on Stagecoach Road.
After the window had broken the bus driver immediately pulled of the side of the road to make sure the 23 students are safe. "He did the right thing," Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly said.
Students on the bus indicated to the driver that they saw several teenagers running away from the area with a weapon. After receiving a call from the Athens City School bus garage, police deputies went back to the scene and found three boys.
One of them, a 12-year-old boy, had a BB gun. He told the deputies that he had fired his BB pellet but that he had not shot at the school bus, Kelly said. The deputies took the gun and referred the case to the Athens County Juvenile Court.
Any punishment will come from the juvenile court, as the boy is not a student of the Athens City School District, associate superintendent Thomas Gibbs explained.
The official from the Athens City School District also said that no student on the bus got hurt.
"Obviously it would be alarming, especially if you're a small child just for whatever reason that the bus window would break and to hear that there were kids running away from the area and not knowing whether the weapon was a real weapon or not," Gibbs said.
According to the sheriff the boy is legally allowed to have a BB gun but Kelly still gave the advice not to be shooting it across the roadway.
School officials expect the bus involved to be back in service by Friday.