A 12-year-old Harlem public school student was found with an imitation pistol in his backpack, police said Thursday.
The gun was discovered about 9:20 a.m. Wednesday after an assistant principal noticed the boy had brought his backpack into the lunchroom at John Finley Campus School on W. 130th St. about 9:20 a.m. Wednesday.
When the school official didn’t get a straight answer from the boy on why he was carrying the bag around, he checked the bag and found the fake gun.
The child said he found the gun in a school bathroom.
Cops filed a juvenile report and held the child until his parents picked him up, a police source said. No charges were filed.
Department of Education spokeswoman Miranda Barbot said the school would take appropriate disciplinary action over the incident.
Weapons seizures have skyrocketed by 48% in city schools over the past few months, cops said.
From July 1 through Sept. 30, 2017, police recovered 328 weapons at public schools. Last year, 222 weapons were seized during the same time period, according to police.
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