A shelter-in-place order was issued at a school for young children in Brockton, Massachusetts, when a shotgun was found on the campus Monday morning, police confirm.
Parents of children at the Gilmore Early Childhood Center, a school for preschool and kindergarten students, were notified via a reverse 911 call.
According to a school spokeswoman, the discovery was made by two teachers, who first noticed a suspicious car drive onto the property. Then, she says, they saw two people who didn't belong.
Police say a teacher walked out to the woods and found the unloaded gun in a gym bag along a small pathway.
School officials say it was old and rusty.
Brockton police tell NECN they don't know how the gun got there and who it belongs to.
However, as the investigation gets underway, police theorize it was related to a suspected drug deal between a buyer and seller that was taking place along a small pathway in the wooded area near the school.
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Monday night, that suspected dealer was still missing. Twenty-nine-year-old Kathryn Astuto of Whitman was arrested. Police say she told them she was there to buy drugs from 21-year-old Carlos DeAndrade of Brockton.
Neighbors say they're fed up with what they call constant drug dealing in the area.
"I know there's a lot of problems in Brockton," said Lori Spingel. "I've been living here since 1991, and it hasn't been this bad, but in the last two years, it's been awful."
Police say they're in the process of trying to identify the shotgun's owner.
Parents at the school were notified by a reverse 911 call, according to school officials.
The shelter-in-place order was lifted around 12 p.m. Students were released on schedule.
Police say the suspected dealer and buyer will both be summonsed with "conspiracy to violate the controlled substance act," but police say no one ever saw them bring the gym bag with gun into the woods, so they're not charged with any gun infractions.
