ROCKFORD, Mich. — The gun found in the parking lot of a school building fell from the roof of a vehicle driven by a student's parent.
The firearm, found during Tuesday morning's drop off of students, belongs to that parent, who is also a paid on-call firefighter, according to a release from the Rockford Department of Public Safety.
An investigation revealed the firefighter had put the handgun on the vehicle's roof that morning, intending to store it inside his home. In the rush of getting his child to school, the man forgot the gun, driving to the Rockford Schools Administration Building with it still on top. Pulling into the parking lot on Lewis Street jostled the gun loose, sending it to the pavement where it was found minutes later.
The person who found the gun locked it in their own vehicle before calling a Kent County Sheriff's Deputy who in turn alerted the dispatch center.
The gun's owner was not working at the time, nor using a city vehicle. The firearm is legally owned by the man and properly registered, per Rockford Public Safety.
The department says the firefighter feels "tremendous remorse" about the incident.
The investigative report is now with the Kent County Prosecutor's Office for review.
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