Suburban middle school students find gun, alert teachers, get hero treatment

With all the tragic stories about guns and schools in the news, some students in south suburban Dixmoor are being saluted for what they did with a gun.

They made sure everyone was safe, and then alerted their teachers. Those students are now getting the hero treatment.

It happened Tuesday morning at the Rosa Parks Middle School in Dixmoor. A group of students getting off the bus found a 9mm gun laying in the grass about 20 feet from the entrance to their school.

FOX 32: What was your reaction when you saw a gun sitting on the ground right here?

"I was thinking who would do something bad like that. There's a school right here. Kids get off the bus,” said 5th grader Keymarrion Ross.

"When I saw it I was like that is bad. I should not touch it. I should not look at it,” said student Malik Holton.

Instead of panicking--or playing with the gun--these kids took action. They decided three of them should surround the gun to keep other kids away.

“Some kids stay here. I told them back off. And then two other kids went to get the teacher,” said 8th grader Joyce Carter.

Two of the students ran to the school office where administrator Paul Sanchez was on duty.

"I immediately said 'show me' and walked out here with the students. When I came out and I approached I saw the other students hovering around it kind of making sure nobody touches it,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez put the gun in the school's safe where it was later picked up by police.

On Friday, all six of those students were honored for their actions at a school assembly, getting tickets to the movie "Black Panther" and a proclamation from the city.

"We cannot thank these young people enough for making the right decisions,” said school board president Bonnie Rateree.

"This narrative certainly could have been different. This could have been a tragedy,” said Harvey police chief Gregory Thomas.

Police have traced that gun. They say it was stolen out of Peru, Illinois. It may have been used in a crime and tossed out the window of a passing car on Sibley Boulevard.

Police say that gun was loaded with nine bullets in the clip and one bullet in the chamber.