Ellwood City parents frustrated after child shot with airsoft bullets at school

ELLWOOD CITY, Pa. — Frustration and sadness were the emotions from two Ellwood City parents on Wednesday.

“How could you not feel outraged if your child comes home from school not the park not the mall from school looking like that it hurts me,” said Bobbi Jo Aiken.

Aiken and Daniel Kegley tell me words hurt, but what happened to their 15-year-old son Isaac on Monday was another story.

“It started on the school bus. They were picking at his hair putting stuff in his hair then when he got to VoTech he was being shot with an airsoft oribe gun,” Kegley said.

The pictures of Isaac after school that day show more than 30 welts covering his back and arms after being repeatedly shot with the airsoft bullets.

“I was devastated just upset that something like this could happen on school grounds. We are supposed to trust his teachers and staff to watch over our kids while they are there,” Kegley said.

Isaac was spending the day at Lawrence County Career and Technical Center with his classmates from Lincoln High School. Both the career school and Ellwood City School District told these parents they are reviewing video footage of the incident.

But the big question they want answered is how did these kids get an airsoft gun into school?

“It could lead to something bigger. Like they got away with this what could they get away with next?” Kegley said.

When Channel 11 took that question to the district, superintendent Dr. Wesley Shipley responded with: “I cannot comment specifically on student matters. However, rest assured that we are aware of this incident, we are investigating the incident and we will take appropriate action.”

Kegley and Aiken just want the kids to be held accountable.

“We just want it to be taken serious, so it doesn’t happen to any other kid what happened to ours,” Aiken said.

Because of what happened on Monday, the couple said their son has made the decision to finish out his freshman year at home instead of at Lincoln High School. They are hopeful once this issue is resolved, he will choose to return in the fall.

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