Warrant: Man admitted he owns gun fired in Fuquay-Varina classroom

It's a Willow Spring man who faces criminal charges after a boy fired a gun in a Fuquay-Varina classroom on Thursday. It's not clear how the man, Seth Lanterman-Schneider, 39, is connected to the 12-year-old who fired the shot. But it is Lanterman-Schneider who was arrested within hours of the school scare and charged with failure to secure his weapon.

The 12-year-old, whose name was not released because of his age, was served a juvenile petition for his role.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman declined to speak about the specifics of the charge against Lanterman-Schneider, but said, "People who are gun owners: It is so critically important that you secure your firearm.

"It is a violation of state law and one we’re going to take seriously when someone gets access to a gun as a child."

The warrant for Lanterman-Schneider's arrest reads, "This minor's actions could have been more devastating due to the fact that the defendant left firearms in an unsecured location with easy accessibility for the minor to take to school.”

The student fired a single shot that broke a window at Fuquay-Varina Middle School.

Students who rode the bus with the boy and others inside the classroom told WRAL News they heard him say, "I hate this school," after language arts teacher Lynn Guilliams persuaded him to put down the gun.

"We could be standing here talking about a different set of scenarios that would have played out if she didn’t have the fortitude and training and knowledge with the child to have that gun turned over," said Fuquay-Varina Chief of Police Brandon Medina.

"It’s so scary when you know the kid, know where they live, they ride the bus with you and you don’t know they have a gun," sixth grader Tessa Dean told WRAL News.

A code red lockdown initiated at the school was the second on a Wake County Public School System campus this week, and in October, a gun was fired inside Cary High School.

Christina Spears, president of the Wake County chapter of the North Carolina Association of Educators, said the pressure is on parents to keep children safe.

"We keep us safe, just like that teacher kept us safe," she said. "We have to decide not to bring guns, not to have guns in our community."

She said she would prefer to push for gun safety laws over metal detectors.

"I don’t want to see more metal detectors, more SROs (student resource officers) in our schools. That perpetuates our school to prison pipeline," she said.

"I don’t think the onus is on the local school district. I think Congress needs to pass some gun sense laws that keep students and community members safe."

Students were dismissed after the shot, and classes were canceled on Friday to allow students to process.

Authorities said the threat was not directed at any specific student or staff.

The Fuquay-Varina Police Department is offering free gun locks, and planning for additional officers at the school when classes resume here Monday.