Student awarded for reporting gun in local school bathroom

PITTSBURGH — A fifth-grade student was awarded on Tuesday after he swiftly reported a gun that had been found in a school bathroom.

The incident occurred earlier this month at the Urban Pathways K5 College Charter School in downtown Pittsburgh. School officials determined that the weapon had been left behind by a contracted security guard.

Tyson Coulverson, 12, immediately reported the weapon to his teacher. It was quickly located and secured.

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“It kinda scared me,” he told Channel 11. “I haven’t seen a gun in real life before so I never touched it.”

Coulverson was honored before his classmates during a Black History Month Program at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center just after noon on Tuesday.

Michelle Gainey, Pittsburgh’s First Lady presented him with a certificate.

“I think it’s important for us to honor a young man who made a very strong, wise, safe decision,” Gainey told us.

Coulverson said that it “felt nice” being honored.

His mother, who is a teacher at the charter school, told us that her son’s actions made her proud.

“Even though I do teach him how to respond, you never know which way your kid will respond, so to hear that he did exactly what he’s been taught really made me feel good,” she said. “Him being hailed as a hero for keeping the school safe really made me feel good as well.”

“We instill leadership and responsibility in all of our students and so it was amazing to see things play out in real life,” said Sattarah Bolden, Director of Operations.

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