North Carolina mom charged after gun found in son’s backpack

A North Carolina mother is facing misdemeanor charges after a gun was found in her young son’s backpack on the school bus.

The 10-year-old boy noticed his bag was heavier when he sat down on the bus on Wednesday. He opened the backpack, found the gun and brought it to the bus driver, the Nash County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.

When the bus arrived at MB Hubbard Elementary in Battleboro, 60 miles northeast of Raleigh, the driver told the school resource officer about the gun. The officer, a member of the sheriff’s office, secured the 9 mm pistol and found it was loaded but without any bullets in the firing chamber, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office questioned the boy’s mother, Malasia Coleman, 30, and found that the boy did not know about the gun before getting on the bus, adding that she confirmed that “she used his bookbag to assist while moving and had placed the firearm inside but forgot to remove it.”

Ms. Coleman is facing charges of improperly storing a firearm, a misdemeanor. She was arrested Wednesday, but posted a $1,000 bond. She is due back in court on July 2, according to Nash County District Court records.

The sheriff’s office credited the 10-year-old, saying “his decision-making skills of not removing the item, not allowing other students to handle the weapon and reporting the issue to an adult may have saved the lives of others.”