Crime
Elementary school teacher's gun accidentally goes off in 1st-grade classroom
WBRC-TV
March 22, 2019
Area:
Birmingham (Anniston & Tuscaloosa)
BLOUNT COUNTY, Alabama - A substitute teacher's gun accidentally went off in a first-grade classroom at Blountsville Elementary on Friday afternoon.
Henry Rex Weaver, 74 a substitute teacher at Blountsville Elementary School discharged his gun inside his pocket. A child was injured, treated at the scene of the crime, and released.
The incident happened between 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m. Friday.
Blount County Sheriff Mark Moon says 74-year-old Henry Rex Weaver of Blountsville was taken off campus and into custody.
Authorities say Weaver unlawfully carried a concealed, small caliber firearm into the classroom. The firearm discharged while in his pocket.
Officials say one juvenile received very minor injuries but was treated at the scene and released.
Weaver was taken to the Blount County Jail and has been charged with possession of a deadly weapon on school grounds, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment.
From
AL.com:
[quote"]I'm so sorry it happened, and I hope those kids have no memory of it after time passes," the 74-year-old teacher, Henry Rex Weaver, told AL.com on Thursday.
According to an affidavit in the misdemeanor criminal cases against Weaver - reckless endangerment, third-degree aggravated assault and possession of a firearm on school grounds - this is what happened inside the elementary school classroom: Weaver had a Taurus .380 pistol and a knife in his front right pocket. He bent over to pick up an item off the floor and when he straightened back up, the knife, a clip-on, entered the trigger guard of the pistol and caused it to discharge into the floor.
A fragment struck a 7-year-old girl in the leg. There was a welt on the girl's leg, records state, but the fragment did not penetrate the skin.
Weaver was taken into custody at the scene, interviewed and then booked into the Blount County Jail. He was released the same day on $3,000 bond and has a court date set for May.
Weaver said he had put his pistol up for several days because his permit had expired. He renewed his permit on Thursday and left for school Friday morning with the intention of storing the gun under the armrest of his locked vehicle.
He took a quick phone call as he was about to go into the school - he had to be there at 7:20 a.m. - and was running slightly behind schedule when he got out of the car. "I completely forgot about the pistol being in my pocket," Weaver said.
Weaver is obviously upset over the incident and said he knows he will never again be back inside a classroom. "Oh, I could never substitute again," Weaver said. "The parents are upset, and I understand that."
He said he plans to stand before his fellow church members Sunday and explain what happened. "Time is a healer," he said, "and hopefully that will happen here."
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