The accidental discharge Monday of a security guard’s handgun in a staff bathroom at Oxford Community Schools in Oakland County had at least one parent saying the incident points out the risk of arming adults in schools to prevent shootings.
The suggestion to arm adults in schools, including teachers, gains attention after each school shooting, including the tragic rampage last year at Oxford High School that left four students dead.
Monday’s incident at Oxford Middle School, which is on the border of Oxford Village and Oxford Township, occurred when a school security guard was using the single-stall staff restroom, near the field house, and he placed his handgun on a door hook, the school district said in a statement.
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“While he was retrieving his weapon from the hook, it caught on the lower portion of the hook and accidentally discharged into the cement ceiling,” according to an email sent to students’ families, signed by District Superintendent Ken Weaver.
“Neither the guard nor anyone else was injured. Due to the location of the bathroom, no one heard the discharge nor was anyone else aware the incident occurred aside from the security guard,” the email said. The guard immediately reported the incident to administrators and notified the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, as required by law whenever a firearm discharges, Weaver’s email said.
The officer is a retired police officer “with 28 years of experience,” the email said, concluding with: “Please know, the district will be investigating this situation and examining the weapons protocols for armed security guards and taking deemed corrective action to prevent incidents like this from happen (sic) again.”
The accident prompted a provocative Facebook comment from parent Janell Kosmala: “OK … if this is what happens in a school with someone that was effectively trained and has 28 years of experience in law enforcement, this is the perfect example of why armed officers are not the answer. Glad nobody was injured. How careless. It just shows how easy an accident can happen.”
Kosmala has three children enrolled in L’Anse Creuse Schools in Harrison Township, where she is running for a seat on the school board. She has been endorsed by the statewide, bipartisan Michigan Parent Alliance for Safe Schools, according to her campaign Facebook page. Last year, state Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-Beverly Hills, was widely quoted in the media after she said that the Republican idea of allowing teachers to have guns for classroom defense was “insane.”
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Contact Bill Laitner: blaitner@freepress.com