SAN MARCOS, Texas — An instructional assistant no longer works for San Marcos CISD after a 4-year-old found a gun in the assistant's backpack.
Four-year-old Lorenzo Torres loves getting his hands dirty and figuring out the world around him.
"He loves school, he really does," said Samantha Vargas, Torres' mom.
Vargas and her husband decided to temporarily pull him out of school after his campus, Bonham Prekindergarten School, called with unexpected news on Thursday.
"He was digging into a teacher's aide backpack, and he discovered a firearm," Vargas said.
San Marcos police said the firearm was brought onto campus by an instructional assistant and kept unsecured inside the staff member's backpack.
In a letter to parents, San Marcos CISD wrote, "While looking through the backpack, the student discovered a firearm, removed it from the backpack and placed it on a table inside the classroom."
"There's two teachers in there. I mean, where were both these teachers at the time?" Vargas said.
The letter went on to say, "The classroom teacher quickly removed the student from near the table and evacuated all the students while the campus school marshal entered the classroom to confiscate and secure the firearm and backpack."
"I know my son," Vargas said. "He didn't just take it out and put it on the table – he had to sit there and play with it before he put it on the table. I feel like they could have prevented it. Like I said, how long were they not paying attention to him for him to have that?"
These are questions Vargas said she'll never get the answers to because Lorenzo is nonverbal. It wasn't until hours later that she found out the gun was loaded – information police confirmed.
"I lost it when I found that out because I know my son," Vargas said. "He could have easily hurt himself right there and then some."
The district said the instructional assistant is no longer an employee of San Marcos CISD.
Vargas said she's been trying to get her son into a special education class. After this incident, she has an evaluation appointment on Tuesday to help make that happen. Until then, she'll continue to count her blessings.
"He puts everything in his mouth," Vargas said. "As soon as he gets something, he puts it in his mouth. It could have ended differently. So yeah, I'm very thankful that he is here."
San Marcos police said the instructional assistant will be charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon in a gun-free zone. They're withholding that person's name until the charge is filed.