Bus driver has student pick up gun

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ROBBINSDALE, Minn., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Officials in a Minnesota school district said a middle school student told to retrieve an object from a roadside by a school bus driver brought back a gun.

Tia Clasen, spokeswoman for the Robbinsdale schools said the bus driver made an unscheduled stop in Minneapolis Thursday morning when he spotted an object at the side of the road and asked a Robbinsdale Middle School seventh-grader to get off the vehicle and retrieve the object, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Friday.

Clasen said the student returned with a gun.

The driver informed middle school staffers of the incident and said he was taking the gun to the dispatch office of his employer, Metropolitan Transportation Network, Clasen said.

The spokeswoman said police and the bus company are investigating the incident.

Robbinsdale Middle School Principal John Cook said in a letter to parents Thursday the student was being respectful to the driver by agreeing to retrieve the object, but described the incident as an unsafe situation. He called on parents to talk to students about the proper way to react to unsafe situations.