Six elementary school students in Harvey-Dixmoor School District 147 were honored for their response when they found a gun outside of their school.
"We are so proud to be here today honoring our heroes," school board president Bonnie Rateree said.
"We know that we have the best, the brightest, smartest students on this side of the south suburbs," Supt. Johnetta Miller said.
The fifth graders were arriving for school Tuesday morning when they spotted a gun in the grass outside Rosa Parks Elementary School in Harvey.
"We all got in group and thought it was fake," fifth-grader Malik Holton said.
The group saw eighth-grader Joyce Carter and asked for help.
"I told them to back off and get an adult," she said.
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And that's exactly what they did.
Three students waited with the gun while three others went to get a teacher.
"I was a little scared that other students would grab gun and do something bad with it," fifth-grader Sigifredo Gallegos said.
Community officials were so impressed by the group's actions--that they held a special assembly to honor them this afternoon.
"They positioned themselves to make sure that the student body was safe," Harvye's Mayor Eric Kellogg said.
Gathered in front of classmates and their families, officials called the students heroes, saying they very possibly saved lives.
"Because of your classmates that gun will never harm a soul," Police Chief Gregory Thomas said.
The students are sharing the credit with their parents.
"My parents taught me if you see a gun don't pick it up," student Donne Randeel said. "Tell an adult or something."
On Monday they'll be recognized again thanks to a proclamation by Kellogg naming the day in their honor.
Police say the gun was reported stolen out of Peru, Illinois.
The investigation into how it ended up outside the school is ongoing.
