Kentucky student accidentally shoots himself while playing with a gun in class

A Kentucky teenager shot and wounded himself while playing with a gun he brought to school.

The student was playing with the weapon in a classroom at Lexington's Frederick Douglass High School when the gun accidentally fired and shot him in the hand, reported WKYT-TV.

Fayette County Public Schools are each equipped with metal detection wands, but those are used only when employees suspect a problem.

Superintendent Manny Caulk said stationary metal detectors would be installed in the school as soon as possible.

Parents rushed to the school to pick up their children, and one mother said her son called after the shooting to say he was "shook."

About three dozen students left school for the day, the station reported, but classes resumed after the shooting.

“This is the second time this year I’ve gotten a phone call from school saying something about a gun or our kids being in danger," said parent Lori Coffman. "As soon as I got that phone call I knew we failed our kids. We need metal detectors and we need to step up. I’m about to pull my son out of school, and he’s a senior, he graduates this year, but his life is not worth it to me we’ve got to stand up for her kids and things have got to change.”

The wounded student was treated at a nearby hospital and charged with wanton endangerment and possession of a weapon on school property.

Another student was taken out of the school in handcuffs Friday morning, but it's not clear whether that was related to the shooting.