VOA Special English
US Teacher Arrested after Firing Gun in Classroom

    2018/2/28

    A high school teacher in the American state of Georgia was arrested after firing a gun in his classroom.

    Police said the teacher had locked the classroom door to keep his students out in the hallway. He then fired a shot when the school’s principal tried to open the door.

    No students were hurt from the gunshot. One student suffered a minor leg injury while running from the scene.

    The shooter is a teacher at Dalton High School in Dalton, Georgia. The school is about 145 kilometers north of Atlanta.

    In this Feb. 24, 2018 photo, the main entrance of Dalton High School is shown, in Dalton, Ga. Police in Georgia say a teacher fired a gunshot after locking himself in a classroom. (AP Photo/Jeff Martin)
    In this Feb. 24, 2018 photo, the main entrance of Dalton High School is shown, in Dalton, Ga. Police in Georgia say a teacher fired a gunshot after locking himself in a classroom. (AP Photo/Jeff Martin)

    After responding to reports of gunfire at the school, police said they found the teacher inside a classroom with a handgun.

    A Dalton Police Department spokesman told reporters that the incident began when a group of students tried to enter the classroom. But they were stopped from doing so by the teacher, who forced the door shut.

    A single gunshot was heard from inside the room as the principal tried to open the door. This led to a school-wide security lockdown, police said.

    The police spokesman did not say whether the fired shot was a suicide attempt. But he said, “This teacher apparently did not want to involve students in this incident in any way.”

    The incident came two weeks after a deadly shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. A gunman shot and killed 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. It was the country’s deadliest school shooting in over five years.

    The attack led to calls from U.S. President Donald Trump for arming teachers as a way to stop school shootings.

    I'm Dorothy Gundy.

    Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on Reuters news reports. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

    Write to us in the Comments Section or on 51VOA.COM.

    _______________________________________________________________

    Words in This Story

    principal - n. the person in charge of a school

    scene - n. the place of an event or action

    apparently - adv. used to describe something that appears to be true based on what is known