Bus Driver Charged After Middle School Students Find Gun On Seat

NORFOLK, MA — A King Philip Regional School District bus driver is facing reckless child endangerment and gun charges after police said middle students found a .45 caliber handgun on a bus seat Thursday afternoon.

David Tripp, 65, of Norfolk has been suspended pending an investigation. Police said Tripp has a license to carry a firearm, but it is illegal to bring a firearm on a school bus. Police said all of Tripp's firearms have been seized and his license to carry was suspended.

"This is a deeply disturbing situation in which an employee entrusted with the care and transportation of school children allegedly put them in danger by not only carrying a firearm on a school bus but being so reckless as to lose it and allow a child to find it," Superintendent Paul Zinni said. "This was an incredibly dangerous situation that could have turned tragic in the blink of an eye."

Tripp is charged with reckless endangerment of a child, improper storage of a firearm near a minor, intimidation of a witness, juror or court official and carrying a firearm on a campus.

He was arrested at his home Friday afternoon.

Police said a parent contacted them Thursday night to tell them students saw the gun while they were getting on the bus after school. An investigation determined the gun fell out of Tripp's pocket while he was cleaning up after an elementary school route.

Police said Tripp put the gun back in his pocket when he went to check on a commotion among students at the back of the bus where the gun was found and that he did not report the incident.

Police said they determined no elementary school students saw the gun and no students touched the gun at any time. It was a Smith & Wesson .45 caliber handgun with seven rounds loaded, but no bullet in the chamber.

"I want to commend our officers for their sense of urgency in conducting a thorough investigation, leading to this arrest," Norfolk Police Chief Charles Stone said. "We are extremely fortunate that no children were injured as a result of the suspect's reckless and dangerous conduct."

Holmes Bus Company, a Norfolk-based company, owns the bus.

School administrators said they will be in contact with all students who were on the bus and counselors will be available to them, if needed, this week.

Tripp is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Wrentham District Court.