Family questions boy's suspension over gun gesture

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -- The family of a 6-year-old Silver Spring boy who was suspended from school from pointing his finger like a gun and saying "pow" wants the incident stricken from the child's record.

The family's attorney filed an appeal Wednesday to ask that the incident be expunged. The attorney, Robin Ficker, said the boy had no intention to shoot anyone.

A spokesman for the school system said he could not discuss individual students for privacy reasons but said in a written statement that the boy's suspension from Roscoe Nix Elementary School in Silver Spring "was not a kneejerk reaction to a single incident."

The first grader was suspended for one day in December. The incident happened a week after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Conn.