Fukuoka police have arrested a 41-year-old man after his son brought a revolver to his junior high school in the town of Shime in the prefecture, investigative sources said Monday.
One of the teachers at the municipal school accidentally fired the handgun in the teachers' office thinking it was fake, but nobody was injured, they said.
The police arrested Takaki Wakisaka, a food establishment owner in Shime, on suspicion of possessing a revolver and several bullets in mid-September at a warehouse supervised by him in violation of the Firearms and Swords Control Law.
The police are investigating how Wakisaka acquired the weapon. They have not disclosed whether he has admitted the charge.
According to school and investigation officials, the handgun was found at the school last Wednesday when a teacher checked the belongings of the student. The handgun was later kept at the teachers' room, and another teacher accidentally fired it Saturday evening, hitting a chair.
The student told the police he brought the handgun from home and thought it was a model. The 25-year-old male teacher who accidentally fired the gun said he did not think it was real either.
The male teacher reported the incident to the head teacher Saturday, but it was not communicated to the principal. The principal, who was notified of the matter Monday, contacted the town's board of education and the police.
Asked about the fact that he was not notified immediately, the principal said, "In retrospect, it was a mistake."