chrisevagh: Third-grader shot at Wash. elementary school

Friday, February 24, 2012

Third-grader shot at Wash. elementary school

KING-TV

An air ambulance is seen flying the victim to a trauma center in Seattle.

By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

Updated at 9:41 p.m. ET: An 8-year-old girl was critically wounded Wednesday in a shooting incident at an elementary school in Bremerton, Wash., authorities said. The school district said it appeared the shooting?was an accident.

Armin Jahr Elementary School in Bremerton, across the Puget Sound from Seattle, was just letting out for the day when the victim, a girl in the third grade, was shot at about 1:29 p.m. local time (4:29 p.m. ET), Bremerton police said. Bremerton, which houses a naval base, is an hour ferry ride from downtown Seattle.

Police said it was too early to speculate about the circumstances, but a spokeswoman for the school district told NBC station KING of Seattle that the shooting appeared to have been an accident.

The girl, identified as Amina Bowman, was flown to Harborview trauma center in Seattle with a gunshot wound, the hospital said. Hospital officials told King5 Wednesday evening that Amina had emerged from surgery but faces more surgery.

Although Amina is a minor, her identity was released after her grandmother named her in local media interviews. The woman, Cindy Kocer,?told KING that the family expects Amina to be OK but is asking the public for its prayers.?

Bremerton police Lt. Peter Fisher said the gun used in the shooting had been recovered and that a second student, believed to have been the shooter, was being held for questioning. The school district said that student is 9 years old and also in the third grade.

Cindy Kocer, Bowman's grandmother, told KING 5 that she was watching TV of the shooting just before learning her granddaughter was involved.

"She will pull through," Kocer said. ?"If I can make a plea to all my CFC (Couples for Christ) families, please pray for her. That's all I need. That's all we need."

Kerri Johnson, the mother of a fourth-grader at the school, which is named for a former district superintendent, told KING that her son heard the shot.

?He?s really scared, but he?s fine,? Johnson said.

The latest scorecard by the Brady Campaign, a national gun control advocacy group, Washington scored no points in the child safety category because the state does not require trigger locks for guns and lacks laws to prevent child access to firearms, the Associated Press reported.

"Washington state is a loosely regulated state when it comes to firearms," said Gregory Roberts, executive director of Washington Cease Fire, a Brady Campaign affiliate.

Todd Miyazawa and?Olivia Santini of NBC News and M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com contributed to this report.