MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A handgun that was inside a student's backpack discharged outside an elementary school in Minneapolis.

The school district says no one was injured when the gun discharged at Bethune Community School on the city's North Side.

District spokeswoman Rachel Hicks says the firing was considered accidental. It happened about 10 minutes before students are dismissed, so few students were nearby.  Some may have heard the shot or seen smoke.

Hicks said police were interviewing the student's parents, school staff and a school bus driver who was nearby.

Bethune has about 340 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

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