FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas – Two Fort Bend ISD elementary school security officers have been fired for leaving their firearms unattended at the schools they were hired to protect.
The two unattended gun incidents happened weeks apart from each other. The first happened in January in a staff bathroom at Sullivan Elementary. The second incident happened in February in an empty classroom at Sugar Mill Elementary, reports Houston Public Media.
No students touched either of the unattended guns.
In the first incident, a teacher found the gun in the staff bathroom and notified administrators, reports ABC13. In the second incident, after the gun was left in the fifth-grade classroom, it was discovered by students and a teacher when they returned to class. The security officer realized a few minutes later that they had left their gun in the classroom and returned to retrieve it.
Both officers were recently hired by two private security companies: Andy Frain Services and Veterans Service America. Both officers were deployed so the schools would be incompliance with House Bill 3, a new law that requires schools to have armed security on every K-12 campus.
Although Fort Bend ISD already had police officers on its middle school and high school campuses, to save money, it hired contracted security guards to work at its 51 elementary schools.
In response to both incidents, the officers will no longer work on school campuses, and the district will reinforce its protocols with contracted armed security personnel.
This isn’t the first time a gun has been left unattended at a school in Texas. Last year, Rising Star Independent School District Superintendent Robby Stuteville submitted his resignation after he left his firearm in a bathroom that was then discovered by a third grader.
