First grader suspended for making gun gesture with finger at Maryland school

A 6-year-old boy was suspended from his Maryland elementary school for making a gun gesture with his finger, pointing it at a classmate and saying "pow."

The Washington Post reports the first grader's parents are fighting to remove the disciplinary action, which the school said was due to the child making a "threat" to shoot another student in December, from the child's record.

The school says the child pointed his finger at a female student in his class as if it were a gun and said "pow." The school says the child had been warned before about similar behavior, but chose to do it anyway.

“We always make sure there is clear conversation with the student and parents about any behaviors that have to change and what the consequences are if that behavior doesn’t change,” Montgomery schools spokesman Dana Tofig told The Washington Post, saying that the suspension was not a knee-jerk reaction to a single incident.

The child was suspended for one day on December 21. His family's attorney Wednesday filed an appeal, asking that the incident be expunged from the child's record and arguing the boy never had the intention of shooting anyone.

“He’s skinny and meek," attorney Robin Ficker said of the boy. "In his words, he was playing.”