Washington Teacher Arrested After Threatening To Shoot Students, Police Say

[appalachiablue]

Source: NBC News

"If the student does it, they’re going to jail. Now we have a teacher doing it. They're also going to jail," a Pierce County sheriff’s detective said. A teacher in Washington state was arrested Wednesday after threatening to shoot students, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.

The teacher made the threat while on the phone with a caseworker, according to sheriff's officials.The woman has not been named by officials, who said she is a 58-year-old teacher at Emerald Ridge High School in South Hill.

She made the statement Tuesday while talking to a caseworker, who called the sheriff’s office around 6 p.m. to report the threat, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. The sheriff’s school resource deputy assigned to the high school, which is in Puyallup, contacted the teacher at her home, and "the teacher repeated the threat to the deputy and was placed under arrest," the sheriff’s office said.

The teacher was booked on a charge of threats to injure. Pierce County sheriff’s Detective Ed Troyer said that the teacher "didn't back off from those comments" as officials were conducting the investigation, according to NBC affiliate KING of Seattle...


Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/washington-teacher-arrested-after-threatening-shoot-students-police-say-n1082006

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No weapons were recovered, and Troyer said it was unknown what prompted the threat. "Everybody knows you don’t talk about guns or make any threats in school," he said, "So she’s going to be booked in jail as we look into this a little bit further."
In a statement the Puyallup School District said "making threats against the safety of students and staff is a felony crime and taken very seriously by Puyallup School District," according to KING.
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(Newsweek). Emerald Ridge High School student Raul Garibaldo told KCPQ he was shocked by the news. "She's normally a really nice teacher," he said. "It's really traumatizing because it's a teacher I grew up with, during my lunch breaks I would go there and just talk. She was really helpful."

https://www.newsweek.com/washington-puyallup-emerald-ridge-high-school-math-teacher-arrested-shooting-threat-1471726

[dware]

1. This is a perfect example of why teachers shouldn't be armed.

No telling what would have happened if this teacher was armed, as the NRA would have it.

[appalachiablue]

2. Righto. What set her off I wonder. One student said she 'was

nice, very helpful,' as I just posted. Ya never know..

[Coleman]

3. This is why teachers should not hve guns in school

14 years of teaching these soul suckers makes it clear that even the best of teachers could finaly snap. I got out when the getting was good.

[appalachiablue]

6. Dunno what her issue was but I know how awful some students

can be, she needs help and maybe more.

[beveeheart]

9. Me too, 14 years teaching high school was my limit.

Now, many years later, I volunteer-teach an English conversation class to adults who want to speak English better.

[YOHABLO]

4. Students can be really awful. Psychologically she could have

reached her tipping point. I hope she gets some help.

[appalachiablue]

5. For sure, you and #3 said it.

[IronLionZion]

7. Arm the teachers!

Then arm the students to defend against bad teachers!

Then arm veterans with PTSD as security officers to shoot both the students and teachers!

[appalachiablue]

8. 'Safety'

[cyclonefence]

10. How much time elapsed between the statement and the report to police?

I am curious about the exact context in which the threat was made. I have often said that I want a machine gun mounted on the hood of my car, but clearly it's said in jest. It's just hard for me to understand how and why a teacher would say such a thing to a case worker, of all people. I'd like to see a transcript of the conversation. It's not that I don't think the words were spoken.

If there was a long delay (hours, say) between the incident and the reporting of it, it might mean that the caseworker understood that it was not a serious threat at the time it was spoken, but after thinking about it, realized she had an obligation to report such threats, seriously meant or not.

I would think that if the caseworker believed it was a serious threat, there would have been an immediate call to the cops. The fact that the call was made at 6 p.m. sounds like maybe the caseworker talked it over with someone and was reminded of her obligation to report *all* threats.

[Midnight Writer]

11. She repeated the threat to the police, and stood by it.

If it was a "joke", and she knew it had attracted attention from law enforcement, why would she repeat it?

[cyclonefence]

12. If it was a serious threat

--unless she's insane--why would she repeat it to the police?

Not saying it wasn't a serious threat, just saying I want to hear its context, and how long it took the caseworker to report it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. I'm curious about the caseworker conversation.

What prompted the call, who the caseworker was representing...the teacher? a student?

In any case, the caseworker is mandated to report the threat, and she/he did so.

[cyclonefence]

16. Agreed

As a mandated reporter, the caseworker was required to report, whether the threat was serious or a joke. That's why I wanted to know the timeline--if the cw felt it was serious, I am sure it would have been reported immediately. If the cw understood it was said jokingly--as in "I could have killed that kid"--it might have been a while before the threat or "threat" was reported. The cw might have had doubts about reporting something obviously said in jest; after thinking about it, concluded even a joking threat was a mandated report.

It makes no sense to me that a teacher, who is also a mandated reporter, would have said such a thing to a person known to her to be a mandated reporter, unless it was said as a joke. A stupid joke, but a joke nonetheless.

[Firestorm49]

14. And a day later, another school shooting. Absolute insanity.

You'd think that after Scalise was shot at the ball game, they'd change their view, since it was one of their own, but they still
have more adoration for the NRA than the lives of innocent people or themselves. Wow, what a lobby huh? The NRA has both Republicans and Democrats by the nuts and knows how to hold them tight. Insanity.

[MustLoveBeagles]

15. +1000

I so tired of this.