Originally published February 22, 2012 at 3:15 PM | Page modified February 22, 2012 at 10:30 PM

BREMERTON — By all appearances, it was a normal ending to a typical school day.

Students and staff at Bremerton's Armin Jahr Elementary School were preparing for the final bell at Wednesday's early dismissal time of 1:30 p.m. Outside, parents were driving or walking up to the school to collect their children.

But moments before the end of school, a single gunshot was fired in a third-grade classroom, striking 8-year-old Amina Bowman. The girl was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she was listed in critical condition Wednesday night.

Bremerton police believe the shooting was accidental.

Another student had brought the loaded handgun to school, police said. The handgun accidentally discharged while it was in the boy's backpack, and the bullet struck Amina, police said.

Police said a handgun was recovered in the classroom.

The student who took the handgun to school has been booked into the Kitsap County Juvenile Detention Center for investigation of unlawful possession of a firearm, bringing a dangerous weapon onto school grounds and third-degree assault.

Investigators are trying to determine where the boy obtained the handgun.

They released few details about the boy, reportedly a 9-year-old third-grader.

The student had recently transferred to the school, Bill Poss, husband of teacher Natalie Poss, told KIRO-TV.

"I don't know a lot about the kid other than my wife's been coming home talking about him, and he's been a real problem in the class, and she's been very concerned about it," said Bill Poss.

Amina was first taken to Bremerton's Harrison Hospital before being airlifted to Harborview, where she underwent about two hours of exploratory surgery to determine the extent of her injuries.

The bullet reportedly struck Amina's arm and then went into her abdomen, but hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg would not disclose details of her injury.

Amina's grandmother, Cindy Kocer, told KING-TV that her family expects the girl will be OK, but asked the community for prayers.

Bremerton police and emergency crews were dispatched to the school at 1:29 p.m. in response to a call that a student had been shot by another student.

The school was immediately locked down after the shooting, and all students were confined to their classrooms.

Jennifer Stevens was walking to the school to pick up three of her children when she saw "police cars flying down the road."

Another young mother told Stevens a child had been shot at the school.

Stevens said her heart almost stopped. "Is it one of mine?" she thought.

Seconds later, another woman, who she believes was a relative or friend of Amina, ran toward the girl's home screaming, "It's her! It's her!" Stevens said.

Parent Sharrae Sevier, of Port Orchard, said her son, Darnell, was in a classroom next to the room where Amina was shot. He told his mother he heard a loud bang and a short time later a voice came over the intercom telling students the school was under lockdown.

"They were all huddled together under the teacher's desk, and everything was really quiet," Sevier said.

Darnell later told his mother he was confused and had no idea what had happened, she said. He didn't realize the loud bang had been a gunshot.

The lockdown was lifted sometime after 2 p.m., and children rushed to tearful reunions with their parents in the school gym, Sevier said.

"It was probably one of the scariest days of my life," said Sevier, 26. "A little over an hour was like an eternity to me, just not knowing."

Parents who gathered outside the school wondered how a 9-year-old boy could have obtained a loaded firearm and taken it into a classroom.

"What I keep wondering," said Sara Sisk, a 28-year-old alumni of Armin Jahr, "is how in the world did a third-grader get ahold of a gun?"

Taylor Sumpter, 19, who has lived across the street from the school all his life, did not hear gunfire but looked outside about 1:30 and saw a police car parked on his lawn.

"I went outside and I saw a whole bunch of cop cars swarming around the school and swarming the neighborhood." He saw a couple of helicopters, one with a news crew and the other coming to evacuate the wounded girl.

"I didn't stay out there long," he said. "I have a young cousin here, and I wanted to make sure he was safe."

Amina was airlifted to Harborview, arriving at 3 p.m. She was in surgery in less than five minutes later, said Gregg, the hospital spokeswoman.

The girl was out of surgery around 5 p.m. and listed in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit.

Kocer, Amina's grandmother, said the girl is about to turn 9.

Neighbors of the girl, who lives less than two blocks from the school, described the family as warm and friendly.

Both of the Bowman children, Amina and an older brother who attends Bremerton High School, are "good kids," said neighbor Kenneth Brooks. "They've never been in any trouble."

Amina, who has long dark hair that hangs past her waist, is something of a tomboy, said other neighbors.

She is often out in her yard or street, riding her bike, playing basketball with the two girls across the street or running around, said Brooks and another neighbor, Alan Goff.

Brooks said he doubted that Amina, who was always smiling, could have been an intentional target. "She was a sweet kid, definitely not the type to bully anybody."

His son, Jarius Brooks, a Bremerton High School student, he believed Amina "must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Armin Jahr will reopen Thursday, said Linda Jenkins, the district's assistant superintendent. The school has about 400 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Counselors will be on hand and substitute teachers will also be available to assist any teachers who need help, she said.

Bremerton School Board member Dave Boynton called the shooting a "rare, isolated incident."

He said the School Board would review safety procedures after seeing the results of the police investigation.

"Right now our concern is with the child and how the child's doing," he said. "Obviously this is a tragedy."

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice announced that violent crime at the nation's schools is declining. The number of violent deaths declined to 33 in the 2009-10 school year, the lowest number on record since the agencies began collecting data in 1992

In the previous school year, there were 38 such deaths.

But the new government data reports an increase in cyber bullying and youth suicides.

The shooting is the first at a Washington school since February 2010, when 30-year-old Jed Waits, of Ellensburg, fatally shot Jennifer Paulson, a special-education teacher at Birney Elementary School in Tacoma. Waits later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In October, Snohomish High School freshmen April Lutz and Bekah Staudacher were stabbed in a school restroom, allegedly by another student.

Seattle Times staff reporters Jack Broom, Brian M. Rosenthal and Emily Heffter and news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report, which includes information from The Associated Press.

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Girl, 8, shot by accident in Bremerton school