A mother in Clay County was jailed on charges of putting a gun in her child's backpack. | Clay County Sheriff's Office
Published on August 14, 2025 at 2:59 pm
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A Clay County mother was arrested after a gun was found in her child’s backpack at Coppergate Elementary School, the Sheriff’s Office says.
Sierra Nichole Bronner, 39, has been changed with child neglect and giving a firearm to a minor. She was jailed Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Office said.
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The student found the gun after opening the backpack, then told a teacher. Deputies confiscated it as the school in Middleburg was briefly locked down.
Investigators learned that the mother and father do not live together. Bronner said she told her child to give the gun to her husband before going to school, they said.
The father did not know the gun was in the backpack as the child was dropped off at school, the Sheriff’s Office said.
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Sheriff Michelle Cook called what happened “a poor decision that could have ended in tragedy.”
