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APS: BB gun found near Brown Middle School

ATLANTA — Atlanta Public Schools officials are crediting the quick actions of students and parents after they spotted what they thought was a student with a gun just outside a southwest Atlanta middle school. 

Officials later confirm the pistol turned out to be a plastic BB gun.

The incident happened off campus before school started at Brown Middle School on Peeples Street Friday morning.  According to Atlanta Public Schools spokesperson Stephen Alford, a group of students and parents spotted a sixth-grader with what they thought was a pistol.

"Some other students saw what looked like a weapon, a gun," said Alford.  "So obviously, they yelled, 'Kid has a gun' and parents saw what was happening and so the police were called."

Alford said the sixth-grader tossed the BB gun into some bushes before he entered Brown Middle School.  Police later recovered the unloaded gun.  Administrators pulled the boy out of class and, along with Atlanta police, questioned him in the front office.

Alford said it did not appear the boy would be arrested because the BB gun never made it onto the campus, but he could face disciplinary actions by the district because the gun was found within 1,000 feet of the school.

"We don't want to tolerate any type of weapons, whether they're firearms or BB guns, coming on our campus," said Alford.

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