WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Pistol-packing teen's mother speaks out

Pistol-packing teen's mother speaks out

By Bert Case - bio | email

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - It is a story that has captured national attention. A 14-year-old brandishes a pistol on a Yazoo County school bus filled with children. A football player heroically wrestles the gun away.

There has been a lot written and shown about it, but very little from the perspective of the young girl, who says she was bullied and called names to the point that she just couldn't take it any more.

She told her mother, Barbara Primer, she didn't want to hurt anybody, just wamted to scare them so they would stop the bullying.

For the first time, the mother is speaking publicly about what happened.

"What would you say to authorities who want to put her away for 40 years? That I am sorry for what my daughter had done. And she wasn't aware of what she was doing. And i'm not saying that she shouldn't be punished. But punish her as a child, not as an adult. I just hope that they have mercy on my baby, because she is a sweet little girl. She didn't mean no harm. And I know she needs some help. And I wish they would just get her help. And not try to put her away" said Primer.

Her mother also doesn't think she knew how to fire the handgun.

"No. But I think that she was trying to at least. But I don't think that she knew what she was doing" added Primer.

We also talked with the 14 year old's sister, 19 year old Shameka Gypson of Pickens.

"She said every day they was picking on her. She don't say nothing to nobody. (They were) hittin her upside the head, calling her bitch, whore, slut, throwing paper and pencil at her. And I just said that what came over her, she couldn't take it" said Gypson.

Barbara Primer's attorney, John Reeves of Jackson, was at her side during the interview but did not interupt.

The case is expected to go before a grand jury in Yazoo County next week. It will up to the grand jury as to whether to indict the 14 year old and try her as an adult.