Georgia Teacher Fired Gun While Barricaded in Classroom, Police Say

A teacher at a high school in Dalton, Georgia, was arrested Wednesday after he locked himself in his classroom and fired at least one gunshot through a window, police said.

Bruce Frazier, the spokesman for the Dalton Police Department, said no students were hit and he was aware of only one injury: A student hurt her ankle while running through the halls.

Police identified the teacher as Jesse Randall Davidson, 53. They said he appeared to have locked the door to his classroom at Dalton High School and was alone there when students tried to enter shortly before noon. The principal, Steve Bartoo, was called to the classroom and said he used a key to open the door.

“I attempted to enter the classroom and he slammed the door,” Bartoo said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, adding that Davidson told him to go away. “He had some nonsensical noises that were made as well.”

After that, Frazier said: “Mr. Davidson apparently fired a shot from a handgun through an exterior window of the classroom. It did not appear that it was aimed at anybody. Obviously it broke out the window, and at that point the school went into lockdown.”

A junior at the high school, Wesley Caceres, 16, said in a phone interview that he heard about the “code red” lockdown over the intercom. On his way to take shelter in a classroom, Wesley filmed a video of students running frantically through the hallways.

“Our teachers started getting terrified, and we got terrified,” Wesley said, adding that he called his mother to tell her he loved her.

Davidson stayed in his classroom for at least a half-hour before being taken into police custody without incident, Frazier said. Wesley and other students were eventually evacuated to a nearby convention center.

Davidson was being held at the Whitfield County Jail, Cliff Cason, assistant police chief, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. Later, police said, Davidson was charged with several counts including: aggravated assault; carrying weapon on school grounds; terroristic threats; and reckless conduct.

“This is a very egregious act that took place,” Cason said.

The school resource officer on duty was at the nearby middle school when the episode began, Cason said. But he quickly went to the high school, where he spoke to Davidson and “was able to persuade him to come outside and surrender,” Cason added.

Bartoo said school policy did not allow guns on campus. He said Davidson had been a “very good teacher” who was “well thought of,” adding that he had been employed as a teacher there since 2004.

Police said they were still investigating how Davidson got a handgun into the school and what motivated him to fire it.

The episode came two weeks after 17 people were killed by a gunman at a high school in Parkland, Florida. President Donald Trump has since suggested that more teachers should be armed to protect students, sparking fierce debates over the role that educators should be expected to play.