St. Pete teen hospitalized after shooting herself on school bus: Police

Middle school student shoots self on school bus

FOX 13's Kailey Tracy reports on the 13-year-old St. Petersburg student who shot herself on a school bus.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A middle school student is in the hospital in stable condition after St. Petersburg police say she shot herself on a school bus Tuesday morning.

It happened around 9:20 a.m. near 49th Street North and 17th Avenue North.

Police say there were 20 students headed to Tyrone Middle School on board the bus when the shooting occurred.

Yolanda Fernandez, the community awareness division manager of the St. Pete Police Department, said no one else was hurt or threatened, and that the 13-year-old brought the gun onboard.

The bus driver heard a pop, and students yelled that someone had been shot, Fernandez said. The bus driver pulled over about a block away where she saw a police officer and flagged him down for help.

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"This is a huge concern," Fernandez said. "You have a 13-year-old girl on her way to middle school with a busload of kids and she suffers a gunshot wound. So, there are so many things that went wrong in this scenario here. You know, a young girl that shouldn't have been able to get a gun, shouldn’t have been able to carry a gun onto a school bus and certainly there's a concern for the safety of the other children in this case."

A middle school student was hospitalized with a gunshot wound Tuesday morning, St. Pete police said.

Paramedics rushed the teen to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital.

"We don't know how this young girl obtained this gun, how she got it, but it shouldn't be that easy for a 13-year-old to have a weapon," Fernandez said. "It's very serious. It's very serious because another student also could have been hurt on the bus. We're lucky in this case that no other students were harmed, but it still is a big concern for us. It's also important for parents to talk to their kids about the danger of guns, if they know of anyone who has a gun to make sure that they tell an adult and stay out of the area."

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Detectives are working to determine exactly what happened, if the gunshot wound was accidental and how the teen got the gun. Police said the bullet exited the bus between the two Ls in Pinellas on the side of the vehicle.

Police say the bullet exited the bus between the two LL's in Pinellas.

Police say the bullet exited the bus between the two L's in Pinellas.

Eleven-year-old Levi Viera was sitting in the front of the teen on the bus when the gun went off.

"I was scared," Levi Viera said. "I thought it was like a balloon at first being popped until I smelled the gunpowder, and she started screaming."

Levi and his mom, Elissa Viera, text every morning while he’s on the bus.

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"He had a presentation to do today and he was nervous and he said, ‘Mom, I’m super nervous.’ I said, ‘It’s OK,’" Elissa Viera explained.

"He said, ‘Love you.’ I said, ‘I love you more,’ and then 30 seconds later, I get a text saying ‘I’m scared Mom. Someone got shot.’ My heart just sank," Elissa Viera shared.

She raced along the bus route to find her son’s bus surrounded by officers.

A middle school student was hospitalized with a gunshot wound Tuesday morning, St. Pete police said.

"I was scared. I was terrified, and that turned into anger because anything could have happened. It could have gone a different way, and then just sadness for not only what he had to see and all the other students had to see, but what this girl had just been through," Viera said.

She added that she doesn’t want her son to ride the bus anymore, and doesn’t think the incident has hit him yet.

"It’s a lot for an 11-year-old, for any kid to go through," Elissa Viera said.

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"Why did a 13-year-old girl have a gun," she asked.

"How did she get the gun? I had no idea it was even going to happen. There was no warning up to it," Levi Viera said.

Pinellas County Schools released the following statement on the shooting:

"The well-being and academic success of every student remain the focus of Pinellas County Schools and Tyrone Middle School. The district’s Student Services counselors, social workers, and school-based team members were on-site at the school today to assist students and staff. They will continue to be on-site to provide support as long as needed. The safety of students and staff is the highest priority. We encourage anyone with a safety concern to contact our school or report it through the Say Something anonymous reporting app."