A student in Hancock County allegedly aimed a BB gun at a school bus.
It happened last week in the Village of McComb while the bus carrying students was on its afternoon route.
According to McComb Local Schools Superintendent Mike Lamb, no shots were fired at the bus. The boy told the school he was shooting sparrows. In fact, the students on the bus didn't notice the boy outside with the BB gun.
The school bus driver spotted the boy in her rearview mirror a few minutes after dropping him off at home.
"My main concern is that the school has kind of swept it under the rug," says Sarah Freeman, a parent of two McComb students.
"I don't know if any of the parents would have even known about the incident if it weren't for Facebook," says Ellen Boutwell, a McComb parent.
These McComb moms are upset saying they weren't alerted when a bus driver allegedly spotted a student aiming a BB gun at the bus while the driver was dropping kids off after school last week.
"For her to feel threatened, the entire bus, all the students on it were in danger as well," says Freeman.
"I don't care if it was pellet gun, if was a 22, or even if it was a toy gun, it was obviously enough of a threat to the bus driver to have made a police report," says Boutwell.
"Rather than jumping to conclusions, we did allow the facts to come into play," says Lamb.
The Superintendent of McComb Local Schools says the student was suspended from classes the next school day while the high school principal investigated the incident. However, the boy is now back on the bus and in classes.
"There was no immediate and significant threat to the children of McComb schools," says Lamb.
The student and his parents told Lamb that the boy normally hunts birds after school since they live in a rural area.
"If I thought that there was any danger to any child at McComb the boy would not be in school," says Lamb.
"I just want to know what they're going to do to take care of this and ensure that it doesn't happen again," says Freeman. "For it to be simply a slap on the wrist and get suspended for a day or two isn't setting a good example, either."
A report has been filed with the Hancock County Sheriff's Department. That has been sent to the prosecutor's office for review.
Some parents who are upset about how the BB gun incident has been handled plan to attend Wednesday's school board meeting at 6:30 p.m.
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