An 18-year-old Iowa man learned how well Gun (and Drug)-Free School Zones work Tuesday night when he was shot in the leg in a Des Moines elementary school parking lot.

Darrius Colter Jr.,  says he was with two men and a friend serving as his “middle man” for the meeting where he was looking to buy pot from someone he didn’t know. While he stood outside his vehicle, he says another vehicle pulled up and someone from inside shot him in the thigh.

Officers were called to 3141 SW Seventh St. around 8:30 p.m. after receiving a report of a gunshot victim. Witnesses in the area reported hearing three gunshots as well as a white car and a maroon car leaving the school parking lot following the incident.

The victim was able to run away from his shooter, but lost his phone at some point in the incident. After knocking on several doors, he was able to convince a nearby resident to let him in and call 911 for him, he told authorities. He was transported to Iowa Methodist Medical Center where he is in stable condition.

A police report says officers found a revolver at the top of a hill near the crime scene as well as bullet casings in the northeast parking lot of the elementary school.

Following the incident Tuesday night, parents were further alarmed to hear a BB gun was then found on school property by a student this morning.

Park Avenue Elementary parent Samantha Russell was waiting outside the school to pick up her 8 year old son Remington when she noticed a female student holding something that looked to her like a firearm.

“She had something black in her hand. I look at it and say, ‘That’s not right.’ So, I look again and I say, ‘Oh, my goodness she had a gun,'” she said.

“What if my son had tried to pick it up or another person tried to pick it up and shoot it,” Russell wondered aloud.

Russell says she immediately phoned the school to alert them of the situation. Her son Remington told her the female student had given the gun to a teacher.

Des Moines Public School officials said the gun found on Wednesday was a BB gun and there were no incidents involving that weapon.

Again, schools are supposed to be Gun- and Drug-Free zones, guys.

How’s that working for us?