ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Alexandria prosecutors say charges have been dropped against a 10-year-old boy who was arrested for bringing a toy gun onto a school bus.

The student’s mother, Nakicha Gilbert, says she is glad the ordeal is over, but it should have never happened in the first place.

The fifth-grader at Douglas MacArthur Elementary School was arrested this month after he showed the plastic gun to another student on the bus. Another student complained and the next day school officials called police after finding the toy gun in his backpack.

Alexandria Commonwealth’s Attorney S. Randolph Sengel says prosecutors don’t believe it was appropriate or productive to proceed with prosecution.

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