The quick thinking of an 8-year-old Salina boy may have prevented a potential tragedy Sunday when he saw his younger brother pick up a loaded handgun in the grass near their apartment complex in west Salina.

The 8-year-old and his 4-year-old brother were playing outside the Airport Apartments, 2774 Berschel, at about 1:30 p.m., when the 4-year-old picked up a .38 caliber handgun lying in the grass near the apartment’s swimming pool.

The 4-year-old thought it was a toy gun and had his hand around the trigger, said the boys’ mother, Kristie Gonner.

“My older boy told him to drop it, that it was a real gun,” she said.

The 8-year-old picked up the gun and buried it in a ditch full of water, covering it with grass as best he could. Then he and his brother ran to tell their mother what happened.

“My son was too scared to carry it very far because he never had a gun in his hand before,” Gonner said. “He told me he hid it because he didn’t want any other kids to see it. There were about 15 or 20 kids playing around here.”

Gonner called the Salina Police Department, and officers retrieved the weapon from the ditch.

The gun’s serial numbers are being run, and the weapon may be sent to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to find its owner or determine if it has been stolen, said Officer Lane Mangels of the Salina Police Department.

So far, nobody has any idea how the gun got there, Mangels said.

Gonner said her mother was a police officer for more than 30 years and always taught her and her sons the danger of guns. Even so, Gonner said she is amazed at the level head and quick thinking of her 8-year-old.

“Either of my kids could have been dead today,” she said. “People need to be aware that stuff like this happens. I just cried my eyes out and thanked my blessings.”

nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at [email protected].