Police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone says according to information received the pupil took the firearm to the Maquassi Hills Secondary School in Wolmaransstad.   

He says two cases of assault were opened with the police on Thursday 8 September 2022 whilst a case of negligent handling of a firearm was opened against the father, a licensed firearm owner. 

The incident is said to have taken place on Wednesday 7 September. Videos and pictures of the alleged attack are doing its rounds on several social media platforms.

In one of the videos students can be seen scattering around and running away immediately after the pupil in question draws out his father's gun.

Mokgwabane says the police received information that during the incident no shots were fired by the school pupil. No one has been apprehended yet but the investigation into the matter has commenced.

“It is alleged that during the incident one of the learners took or grabbed a firearm from his father and chased after fellow pupils. Subsequently two cases of assault were opened.”

The North West Department of Education is yet to respond to OFM News' inquiry.

This incident happens when the issue of safety has been a concern at various schools in the province.

Last month school five pupils were killed and others injured when a truck crashed through the fence of a school outside Potchefstroom. 

Also read: Five children die after truck drives into school yard

OFM News previously reported that a bus transporting learners from Tumisang Primary School in Letsopa near Ottosdal in North West earlier this month, caught fire just outside Stilfontein.

The bus was transporting learners and teachers to Potchefstroom to participate in sports activities.

Also read: Another North West school bus catches #fire

In June this year the Department of Education was hit with three tragedies within a space of one week, with accidents that claimed two lives of learners on the R34 road.

Also read: A week of tragedy for NW Education

OFM News