A single shot from the gun was fired at about 3:30 p.m. in a large closet in a second-floor classroom at Linden School No. 2, a K-5 school on South Wood Avenue, said Linden Police Lt. Raymond Tyra. The slug went through the closet wall.
Police, who were still investigating, could not say immediately if the boy had fired the weapon or if it had discharged accidentally. Tyra described the weapon as "weathered" and said police were still talking to the boy to determine where he found it.
"The exact situation was a gun was found in a fourth-grade coat room," superintendent Joe Martino said. "The gun went off and no one was hurt."
The school was locked down for 15 minutes after the incident. School had already been dismissed for the day, so most of the people in the building at the time were adults, Tyra said.
About 40 parents gathered outside the school. Police let them in the building at 4:30 p.m.
"I just went to the closet to get my backbag, and then he showed me the gun," fourth-grader Christian Perez said. "And I just left the closet, and then this girl came in and then he dropped it, and then it went off."
Mayor Richard Gerbounka said the boy told police he found the gun in a garbage can. It may have been in his possession for a week before he showed it to his friend.
