The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office has announced charges after Monday’s incident at Lee’s Hill Elementary where a firearm discharged in a 3rd grade student’s backpack.
According to a Facebook post from the department on Tuesday, Ciara Armstead, 36 and Terrance Carroll, Jr., 34 were both charged on yesterday with a misdemeanor of recklessly leaving a loaded, unsecured firearm so as to endanger the life or limb of a child under the age of 14 and a felony charge of and while having custody of a child, willfully or negligently cause or permit the life of such child to be endangered. Both were released on $5,000 unsecured bond. After consultation with the Spotsylvania County Juvenile Intake and the Spotsylvania Commonwealth’s Attorney, charges for the student involved in the incident are not being sought.
The decision comes after the incident on Monday morning where a gun discharged at approximately 10:50 AM at Lee’s Hill Elementary School. The school says that 26 students were evacuated to the cafeteria before the facility entered a school-wide hold. There were no injuries to students or staff.
There will be grief counselors available at Lee’s Hill Elementary School today as well as an increased law enforcement presence.
Monday’s incident followed a disturbance on a Ni River Middle School bus last week when a parent boarded without permission at one of its afternoon stops to confront several of the students.
Update: This article has been updated to reflect the additional felony charge, which it initially failed to mention. Apologies for the oversight.
