MESA, Ariz. — Two administrators at Mesa High School have been charged for allegedly failing to report a violent attack last year that may have involved a gun.
The Mesa Police Department confirmed it filed misdemeanor charges against principal Kirk Thomas and athletic director David Klecka in connection with the Feb. 2025 incident involving a student, AZ Family reports.
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Mesa Public Schools security guard Eric Beaumont was working security at a soccer game when a student told him he had been attacked and another student reported seeing a gun.
“He said, ‘These three guys jumped me. I don’t know who they are. I’ve never seen them before.’ He had a bloody lip, and his hands were cut up,” Beaumont said. “The kids said it looked like a certain type of gun. It had an extended magazine on it, and I said, ‘That’s a pretty deep description of a weapon.’ Not just ‘Oh, I think I saw a gun.'”
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With the game still underway, Beaumont said he called Sheldon Deer, lead security for Mesa High, to ask for advice on how to handle the situation.
“I got a call saying, ‘Hey, they got a gun. They got a gun.’ He said, ‘OK, get inside, get inside the stadium. We gotta call 911,’ and he told me that Mr. Klecka specifically told him no, no, because then we’ll have 50,000 cops here,” Deer told AZ Family. “I got an admin telling my guys that we can’t call PD, and I don’t want to go to jail for them because we’re mandatory reporters.”
The following day, Beaumont and Deer reportedly contacted the school’s resource officer. Beaumont said the SRO then called Thomas, who contacted Klecka.
“Thomas got mad. He was furious on the phone with the SRO and told him to stand down,” Beaumont said.
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In a letter obtained by AZ Family, an attorney for Thomas and Klecka said Thomas followed mandatory reporting laws by notifying the SRO of the incident. The attorney also alleges it was not relayed to his clients that a gun was potentially involved in the altercation.
Beaumont ultimately transferred to a different school in the district, and the Mesa Public Schools Governing Board voted to terminate Deer in December. Deer said he felt district officials retaliated against him after he reported the incident. Students rallied in support of Deer, holding protests at the school and the district’s curriculum center.
The board was in the middle of voting on whether or not to renew both administrators’ contracts on Thursday when it postponed the decision, indicating they needed more legal guidance.
