Mom shares public safety message after children find loaded gun in Maryland park

After her 8-year-old son and 9-year-old niece recently found a loaded gun at a park in Washington County, Amber Groomes wants to use the experience as an educational opportunity in case another child or adult finds a gun.

The children ran up to her about their find, she said.

"Thankfully my son knew to get an adult," Groomes wrote in an email to The Herald-Mail.

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The incident occurred between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16, at Riverbottom Park in Williamsport. There were about 100 people in the area with multiple children's soccer games going on, Groomes said in a phone interview.

That area also is near the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park towpath.

Groomes, who lives in Falling Waters, W.Va., said her son and niece were among children playing around the bottom of support posts for the U.S. 11 bridge over the Potomac when he saw a gun along the edge of a wooded area.

None of the children touched the gun, with her son and niece running over to her and telling her she had to see what they found.

Groomes said she picked the gun up and later felt foolish for doing so.

Thinking it was fake, Groomes said she picked it up, saw there was no clip inside and started to walk toward her brother because he'd know if it was real.

"If I could do it again, I would have stood with it, and told my son, 'Hey, go get your uncles.' "

A deputy later told her there was a bullet in the chamber.

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Sheriff's office advised what to do if you find a gun

Sgt. Carly Hose, spokeswoman for the Washington County Sheriff's Office, confirmed the gun had a bullet in the chamber.

The gun had not been reported stolen nor had it been linked to any other crimes as of April 25, according to Hose.

The biggest advice Hose said she can provide for anyone finding a gun is "to not touch the weapon, always assume the weapon is loaded, report it to law enforcement immediately and keep others from handling the firearm until law enforcement arrives."

Groomes said she has taught her children what to do if they see a gun — don't touch it. Part of her reason for talking to her children about guns is because some youths know where their parents store weapons and might like to show them off to other kids.

"If someone ever does that, you don't touch it. You immediately tell a grownup," she said she told her children.

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Schools collaborate to provide gun safety lessons

Her son and neice also recently learned about gun safety as part of public safety lessons at Berkeley County Schools.

After reporting their find to Groomes, the pair were singing a song about don't touch, tell an adult, run away, Groomes said.

Berkeley County Schools' Pupil Services Department coordinated safety presentations recently that included West Virginia State Police, the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department and Martinsburg Police, school system spokesperson Karla Troppman wrote in an email.

Police, school system safety officers, the Eastern Panhandle Instructional Cooperative, Martinsburg Fire Department, the Department of Homeland Security, pupil services workers and leadership students from the county high schools were among the groups that collaborated in March to provide safety assemblies to fifth-graders and to all students in the 15 primary schools, Troppman said.

The safety information was shared with more than 7,500 students in 21 schools.

Those presentations included information about drug and vaping prevention, fire safety and "see something, say something," Troppman wrote.

The three law enforcement agencies talked to kids about gun safety.

For Washington County Public Schools, gun safety is one of the public safety topics second-graders learn about at Children's Village, school system spokeswoman Erin Anderson wrote in an email.

"Students are taught that, if they find a gun, they should not touch it, they should leave the area, and they need to tell an adult," Anderson wrote.

Groomes said it's great that Berkeley County Schools recently helped provide such lessons.

But still, "Parents need to talk to their kids and educate them because you just never know," she said.

Who would have thought this would happen in a park or near a ball game where another child, less knowledgeable, could have picked the gun up, she said.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Berkeley County mom shares safety message after kids find gun in park