PORT ORCHARD — South Kitsap School District officials notified the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office Friday morning that an elementary school student brought a loaded handgun to Mullenix Ridge Elementary School in a backpack.

Lt. Ken Dickinson of the sheriff’s office said a preliminary investigation indicated the student’s caregiver may have accidentally given the student the wrong backpack and that neither the caregiver nor the child was aware that a handgun was inside.

Dickinson said the student is the child of a Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office employee.

“In the interest of impartiality and transparency, the Sheriff’s Office has contacted the Washington State Patrol and asked for assistance with investigating this incident,” Dickinson said in a news release.

The spokesman said that once the state patrol’s investigation is complete, the sheriff’s office will initiate its own internal investigation into the incident.