WHITMAN —Police Chief Timothy Hanlon and Whitman-Hanson Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak reported Monday, June 6, that police had responded to an elementary school in town today after a student found a bullet casing on school grounds.
The item, found in the grass of the recess yard, was determined to be a small, rusted, broken piece of a .32 caliber bullet casing. The casing appeared to be old.
“I’m not sure how long it had been there,” Hanlon said Tuesday, based on the condition of the fragment. He added that .32 caliber weapons are not common these days.
Whitman Police and Whitman-Hanson administrators consulted and decided that there was no need to disrupt the school day as a result, however Whitman Police continue to investigate. Police spoke to the student who found the casing, as well as the student’s parent, as part of their investigation.
“I commend the student for doing the right thing by bringing the casing to an adult immediately and administrators and officers for efficiently working together to determine that there was no threat present as a result,” Hanlon said.
On Monday, June 6, at approximately 1:40 p.m., Whitman-Hanson School Resource Officer Kevin Harrington received a call from Duval Assistant Principal Dan Mulhall, who informed him that a student at the John H. Duval Elementary School had found a bullet casing on the playground moments earlier.
“We have extra resources on hand in addition to officer Harrington regularly during arrivals and dismissals,” Hanlon noted.
The student who found the casing showed it to Assistant Principal Mulhall, who immediately notified Principal Darlene Foley and contacted SRO Harrington. Whitman Police quickly arrived on scene, as did members of Whitman-Hanson administration.
Residents posted comments on the department’s Facebook page commending it for response to the incident.
“See something, say something really works,” one resident wrote in offering kudos for a “great job by all involved.”
“Thanks for your good judgment here,” another resident posted. “Though it’s never good to find one near a school, it wasn’t recent. Hope they have cameras on the perimeters to keep an eye on things.
Others thanked the department and Duval staff for the quick response and for handling the situation appropriately.