SAN MARCOS, Texas — A teacher’s aide at Bonham PreKindergarten School has been fired after a four-year-old student took a loaded gun out of the employee’s backpack.
San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District (SMCISD) spokesperson Andrew Fernandez said the boy removed the firearm from the instructional assistant’s backpack and placed it on a table inside the classroom on Oct. 12, reports Yahoo. Another teacher saw the gun on the table and evacuated the classroom. No shots were fired and no one was injured during the incident.
A school marshal confiscated the backpack and gun and brought them to the administration office before contacting the San Marcos Police Department. School marshals are appointed by the district and receive training through the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. Their identities are confidential and they carry a concealed handgun.
Investigators said the gun was loaded and that the former employee, who worked there for about a year, will be charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon in a gun-free zone, a Class A misdemeanor. Their name is being withheld until charges are filed.
“It was an unintentional mistake. But regardless, bringing a firearm to campus is illegal, inexcusable,” said Fernandez. “We will not tolerate this type of action for any employer – any individual – coming on to an SMCISD campus.”
School administrators called the parents of the student who found the gun, as well as the guardians of all 18 students in the classroom, according to San Antonio Express-News. The school also sent an email to all SMCISD families informing them of the incident.
Samantha Vargas, the boy’s mother, said he has autism and is nonverbal. She pulled him out of the school and is looking to enroll him elsewhere.
“I know how he is — he had to examine it before putting it down,” she told KXAN. “Anything could have happened in (those) few seconds. That’s what keeps replaying through my head.”
