Georgia teacher arrested after firing gunshot in school classroom

By Suzannah Gonzales

 

Police cars are stationed outside Dalton High School, in Dalton, Georgia, February 28, 2018 in this still image taken from a video obtained on social media. Twitter/@jordankirkland0/via REUTERS

 

(Reuters) - An armed high school teacher in Georgia barricaded himself alone inside his classroom on Wednesday and fired a gunshot when the principal tried to force open the door, but no one was seriously injured, police said after the instructor was arrested.

 

The incident unfolded as schools around the country remain on edge from a shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 students and educators were killed.

 

In response to that massacre, allegedly carried out by a former student, U.S. President Donald Trump has said teachers should be allowed to carry concealed firearms on school campuses.

 

The incident at Dalton High School, about 90 miles (145 km) north of Atlanta, the Georgia capital, began when a group of students tried to enter a classroom and found that their teacher would not let them in, Bruce Frazier of the Dalton Police Department said.

 

When the principal arrived and tried opening the door with a key, a single gunshot was heard from inside the room, prompting a security lockdown and evacuation of the school as police were notified and the school’s resource officer was summoned, Frazier said.

 

Responding to reports of gunfire at the school, officers from the Dalton Police Department found the teacher holed up inside the classroom. He was taken into custody about 30 to 45 minutes later, police spokesman Bruce Frazier told reporters.

 

The suspect was identified as Jesse Randall Davidson, 53, a social studies teacher at the school who police said also serves as the play-by-play announcer for the Dalton High School football team.

 

Only one minor injury was reported on Wednesday - a girl who hurt her ankle while fleeing in the pandemonium, Frazier said.

 

Frazier said he had no immediate explanation of what may have precipitated the incident, and he declined to say whether he believed it stemmed from a suicide attempt.

 

"This teacher apparently did not want to involve students in this incident in any way," Frazier added.

 

Dalton High School Principal Steve Bartoo said at an afternoon press conference that Davidson was considered an excellent teacher who was well thought of and "fit to work" at the school.

 

“Our teachers care about our kids, they love our kids, they take care of our kids, and it’s certainly shocking to me, probably shocking to any school principal if one of their staff members you know pulled a gun out in a classroom and fired,” Bartoo told reporters.

 

Frazier said it was not immediately clear whether any students had previously been in a classroom with the teacher while he was armed. The weapon involved was a handgun, he said.

 

Students at the high school, which has an enrolment of about 2,000 pupils, were taken to a nearby convention centre after the evacuation, authorities said.

 

"It is really serious after so many things have happened all over the country," student Ricardo Perez told television station WTVC-TV in a telephone interview after the incident. "I'm shocked, I can't believe it. I thought it was a dream."

 

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen, Joseph Ax, Gina Cherelus and Peter Szekely in New York; Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago and Keith Coffman in Denver; writing by Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Tom Brown)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-01

geeezus  christ teach  !    did you really have to do that .... 

And the "plan" to deal with school shootings is to put more guns in schools and in the hands of teachers...

 

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

 

 

Edited February 28, 20188 yr by Samui Bodoh
Lack of coffee

Considering some of the videos that make it online of teachers roughing up students, what could possibly go wrong?

 

Armed teachers? Well that doesn't seem to be working. Plan B? Send in the "good guys".   

A troll post with a comment on moderation has been removed.  

Well, Don's great idea has got off to a fine start. Whats next?

It has also been suggested that librarians may also have to be armed.

His neck is probably so red you could use him as a rear light. He has been dreaming of a massacre which he could put down and nothing happened.

Very bad to have guns in school!

Hey, NRA, you reading this...

The bad guy gun!

 

"Gun adept"?

 

"Highly gun adept"?

 

 

No problem, we give all the kids a gun.

Oh wait ......

That was the problem to begin with.

 

You can't fix stupid.

1 minute ago, FritsSikkink said:

You can't fix stupid.

But unfortunately you can vote for it.

30 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

The bad guy gun!

 

 

?Good for a selfie for  Facebook at the same time

5 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

And the "plan" to deal with school shootings is to put more guns in schools and in the hands of teachers...

 

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

 

 

Indeed, so sad.
voters should demand a shrink to evaluate the people that give kneejerk reactions like all teachers should carry guns

6 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Armed teachers? Well that doesn't seem to be working. Plan B? Send in the "good guys".   

 

Nah. Send in Cadet Bonespurs.

 

With or without a weapon he was willing to have a go.

7 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

And the "plan" to deal with school shootings is to put more guns in schools and in the hands of teachers...

 

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

 

 

 

Thailand urgently needs massive changes in attitudes, laws, law enforcement and in the judicial process and more.

 

 Seems to me the US needs the same (and don't forget dt says it's the greatest country in the world).

 

 

Edited March 1, 20188 yr by scorecard

Like my mama used to say, "Stupid is as stupid does."

6 hours ago, connda said:

Like my mama used to say, "Stupid is as stupid does."

So, Forrest Gump is your smarter brother then?

 

On 3/1/2018 at 7:36 AM, Lungstib said:

Well, Don's great idea has got off to a fine start. Whats next?

It wasn't President Trump's suggestion, it was the guy sitting a couple of seats to his left. Suggest you go watch the actual video instead of buying the bias opinionated false news claims. And, yes, I know he talked about it afterwards but it was NOT his idea.

20 minutes ago, mrwebb8825 said:

It wasn't President Trump's suggestion, it was the guy sitting a couple of seats to his left. Suggest you go watch the actual video instead of buying the bias opinionated false news claims. And, yes, I know he talked about it afterwards but it was NOT his idea.

Nice deflection.   Who took the idea and ran with it like a dog with a bone.   Would he check the gas tanks on Air Force 1 with a match, if someone suggested it?

 

 

People forget how stressful an occupation teaching can be. Teachers start packing heat, how long before they're thinking it doesn't hurt classroom discipline to remind these kids every now and then there's a loaded pistol in the desk? And how long before a teacher decides to use the handgun to protect himself Bernie Goetz style from a student who threw a blackboard eraser at him?

Indeed, so sad.
voters should demand a shrink to evaluate the people that give kneejerk reactions like all teachers should carry guns

Who said that? All teachrrs should carry guns?? Who?

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

1 hour ago, F4UCorsair said:

Who said that? All teachrrs should carry guns?? Who?

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

I left out Huff Post and other blogs, but you can google it yourself if this is a question that interests you.
just a few of the articles after a first Google search:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/22/us/politics/trump-guns-school-shootings.html
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday enthusiastically embraced a National Rifle Association position to arm highly trained teachers to fortify schools against mass shootings like the one last week. Mr. Trump, who said the armed teachers should receive extra pay as an incentive, promoted his idea as demands for stronger gun control intensified across the country.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/banning-guns-in-schools-is-finejust-ask-scalia/article/2011839?custom_click=rss
So, if Gov. Greg Abbott wants to have armed schools in Texas but Gov. Jerry Brown prefers California’s restrictive guns laws, well, fine. If the state law doesn’t violate the Constitution, then it’s not an issue for Washington. It’s not clear that Trump was thinking about such federalist nuance when he declared “Gun free zones are dangerous. The bad guys love gun-free zones.”

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/nov/01/hillary-clinton/trump-said-he-would-require-schools-allow-guns-cli/

We wondered if Trump really has said he’d put allowing guns in classrooms at the top of his priorities list.

Throughout the election, he has advocated for getting rid of gun-free zones at schools and military bases, arguing that this could prevent mass shootings in these types of locations. And he did say once during the primary that he would get rid of these zones on his first day in office.

"I will get rid of gun-free zones in schools, and — you have to — and on military bases, he said at a Jan. 7 rally in Vermont. "On my first day, it gets signed, okay, my first day. There’s no more gun-free zones."

https://www.inquisitr.com/4799374/trump-ignored-questions-about-the-types-of-guns-teachers-should-carry-said-armed-scot-peterson-did-poor-job/

According to John Bennett of Roll Call, Trump stopped to talk to the press for approximately five minutes when he left the White House, before his CPAC speech. During that question-and-answer session outside of the White House, talk turned to Trump’s recent controversial proposal that teachers who carry guns in schools to help prevent mass school shootings might get a “bit of a bonus,” as reported by the New York Times.

However, Bennett reported that President Trump would not elaborate on the types of guns that teachers might carry – be they handguns or assault rifles.

This vigilante approach is all very well, but who watches the watchmen. Basically, you need a SWAT team in every school with clearly defined codes of conduct; if you're gonna make this work. And how realistic is that? 

On 3/7/2018 at 8:39 PM, nausea said:

This vigilante approach is all very well, but who watches the watchmen. Basically, you need a SWAT team in every school with clearly defined codes of conduct; if you're gonna make this work. And how realistic is that? 

Guess we'll find out when the governor of FL. signs the bill the state just passed.