KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. – Protective Apparel Corporation of America (PACA), a manufacturer of body armor located in East Tennessee, has donated 30 vests to Knox County school security officers. The retail cost of the vests is approximately $35,000.
The donation was inspired by the fatal shooting of 39-year-old Russell Kocur, a Halls High School security officer. Kocur was neither armed nor protected by body armor.
Carroll O’Neill Lineberry, a 39-year-old Virginia man who arrived in Tennessee in the stolen car of another Virginia man he had fatally stabbed and bludgeoned, killed Kocur when the security officer approached his parked car in the Halls High School lot on Halloween night. Lineberry is being charged with both murders.
After the shooting, at the behest of concerned school officials, Knox County school system’s Chief of Security Steve Griffin contacted PACA, which offered to donate the bullet-resistant vests to the school system’s 25 security officers.
According to PACA President Pat Lennex, the donation is the first of its kind.
An estimated $8,000 to $10,000 in the school system’s budget will be set aside next year for vests for new school security officers, school officials said.
