Bus aide charged after 12-year-old grabbed his gun and fired out school bus window on South Side

A man is facing a felony gun charge after a 12-year-old boy took a gun from a bag on a Chicago school bus and fired a shot that hit a window outside a Bridgeport elementary school, police said.

Chicago police said Steven Dixon Jr., 22, is charged with carrying a firearm in a public place or school, a felony, along with misdemeanor counts that include endangering a child and reckless conduct.

The shot was fired just before 2:30 p.m. Monday outside Minnie Miñoso Elementary in the 3500 block of South Wallace Street, police said. Police said the boy grabbed the gun from a bus aide's unattended bag and fired a round that struck the window. Other students were on the bus. No injuries were reported.

The school's assistant principal said the student had disabilities.

Police said the man then took the gun and the bag and fled the scene. A police source told CBS Chicago the bus aide turned himself in three to four hours after the shot was fired. Police have not said publicly how Dixon was connected to the bus or to the company that operates it.

The school went into a soft lockdown and released students in waves. In a letter to parents, the school said everyone was safe and the "gun did not enter school grounds."

One parent, Shonterrie Orr, told CBS Chicago her children were standing on the opposite side of the bus when the gun went off.

"Come on now, bus aide with a gun?" she said.

Dixon is expected at a detention hearing on Wednesday.