ST. PAUL -- A St. Paul elementary school student brought a grenade to school Friday, which turned out to be hollowed out, but caused the school to be evacuated.
The child at the Heights Community School had it in his pocket and took it out to show a teacher and some students, said Toya Stewart Downey, St. Paul Public Schools spokeswoman.
"It was probably because he wanted to show it off, something that he thought might have been neat," she said. "No one was ever in danger."
The school called the district's emergency communications center at 10:56 a.m. and then phoned 911, Stewart Downey said.
"Although no one was in danger, we followed our standard safety procedures and evacuated the Heights," Principal Jayne Ropella wrote in a letter to parents.
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Students waited in school buses outside the school and were back in the building within 30 minutes, Stewart Downey said,
The St. Paul police bomb squad responded to the school and confirmed it was a real grenade, but hollowed out, which made it inactive, Stewart Downey said.
Parents got an automated call to tell them of the situation, Stewart Downey said. She said she couldn't disclose the age or grade of the student who brought the grenade to school.
