Loaded gun found in box of donated supplies at elementary school, Georgia officials say

A staff member found a loaded gun in a box of donated classroom supplies at a Georgia elementary school, the principal told parents in a letter.

The staffer was unpacking the box at the end of the school day on Aug. 3 after students were dismissed, according to the letter from Melissa Madsen, principal of Britt Elementary School in Snellville, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta.

“We immediately notified the Gwinnett County School Resource Officers, and they immediately began investigating the matter,” the letter says.

No students were on the school campus at the time, and no one was injured, Madsen said.

A spokesman for the Gwinnett County Public Schools Police Office told McClatchy News that school officials were not releasing any information beyond the letter that was sent home to families.

“Britt Elementary School and Gwinnett County Public Schools take this situation seriously,” the letter says. “I am grateful for our team’s professional and quick response to this incident.”

Schools across the country are starting to reopen and are hosting donation drives to collect school supplies for classrooms. As students return to campuses, many communities are on edge after the last school year ended with a deadly mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

In her letter, Madsen said school employees reviewed safety protocols at a staff meeting.

Britt Elementary school enrolls about 550 students from prekindergarten through fifth grade, according to U.S. News and World Report.

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