The grandfather of an elementary school student who brought a gun to school that accidentally went off inside a classroom in Charles County, Maryland, has been charged in the case, according to authorities.
Investigators with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office said the gun that went off April 10 inside Billingsley Elementary School in Waldorf belonged to 68-year-old Phillip Bright, of Crestview, Florida.
No one was injured when the 9-year-old accidentally discharged the gun.
Bright told investigators he noticed on April 5, days before the incident, that his gun was missing from his vehicle’s console. He reported to Prince George’s County police that his firearm was missing after leaving a car wash in Hillcrest Heights.
Authorities said after the gun went off inside the school, Bright thought back and told investigators he thinks his grandchild may have gotten the firearm when he took the child to school at some point before April 5. The child got into the car before Bright, he said, and Bright believes the student opened the console looking for candy and took the gun.
But, according to authorities, no one knew where the gun was until April 10, when it went off inside the Billingsley Elementary classroom.
Bright faces charges of wearing, carrying or transporting a loaded handgun in a vehicle; storing a loaded firearm in a location accessible to a minor; and contributing to the conditions of a child’s delinquency.
WTOP’s Ian Crawford contributed to this report.
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