Student on school bus grabs aide's gun, shoots out window on South Side, school says

A school bus window was shot out after a student on board got hold of a gun belonging to a bus aide on Monday afternoon, according to school officials. 

It happened just before 2:30 p.m. in front of Minnie Miñoso Elementary in the 3500 block of South Wallace Street. 

Chicago police said a 12-year-old boy grabbed the gun from an unattended bag on the bus and fired a round that hit the window. The school's assistant principal said the student had disabilities and the man, who the bag belonged to, was a bus aide.

Police said the man then took the gun and the bag and fled from the scene.

A police source told CBS News Chicago the bus aide turned himself in three to four hours after the incident. CBS News Chicago has reached out to Chicago police for more information. 

One parent who didn't want to be on camera says they were waiting to pick up her son when she heard two gun pops — thinking it was fireworks, but soon realized it was gunshots.

Another parent said she was waiting to pick up her children. She says she didn't hear the shots, but her three children did. 

"My kids don't even know what it was. They were just standing there. They were standing on the opposite side of the bus. And it's like, come on now, bus aide with a gun? I don't understand it," said Shonterrie Orr. 

She said she briefly saw the man run away.

"I saw somebody run, but I didn't know what they were running from."

Other students were also on board the school bus. No injuries were reported. 

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

Minnie Miñoso Academy is formerly McClellan Elementary School. The school changed its name back in 2023 to honor the White Sox Hall of Famer Minnie Miñoso.

Area detectives are investigating.