Police say a shooting at an elementary school in Bremerton Wednesday afternoon was an accident.

A third-grade girl, injured at Armin Jahr Elementary School, is in critical condition. Police say it appears the 8-year-old girl was near a 9-year-old boy carrying a gun in his backpack. The gun went off and the bullet hit her in the abdomen.

The injured girl was airlifted from Harrison Hospital in Bremerton to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, where she underwent surgery Wednesday afternoon so doctors could assess her injuries, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said.

A firearm was found in a classroom and the boy was detained. He was booked into Kitsap County Juvenile Detention Center for charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, bringing a dangerous weapon onto school grounds, and assault third degree.

Police are trying to determine how the boy came to be in possession of the gun.

The school was in lockdown, but students were let out about a half an hour later. Police on scene helped reunite students with their parents.

Armin Jahr Elementary has about 400 students, Bremerton Schools spokeswoman Patty Glaser said. She said the school will reopen Thursday and three counselors will talk to teachers, students and parents.

"Our plans at this time, school will continue as usual," Glaser said.

Wednesdays are normally early release days for students in the Bremerton School District, so the lockdown went into effect around the end of the school day.

Many questions remained, including how a child could have obtained a loaded weapon and brought it into a grade school classroom.

In the latest scorecard by the Brady Campaign, a national gun control advocacy group, Washington scored no points in the child safety category because the state does not require trigger locks for guns and lacks laws to prevent child access to firearms.

"Washington state is a loosely regulated state when it comes to firearms," said Gregory Roberts, executive director of Washington Cease Fire, a Brady Campaign affiliate.

Amanda Roth, a staff attorney for the San Francisco-based Legal Community Against Violence, said 27 states and the District of Columbia have some form of firearm child access prevention laws. Such laws can include requirements to use gun locks and criminal penalties for adults who allow children to get their hands on guns.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

MyNorthwest.com, Staff report

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