Teacher arrested for lining up his students, firing blank shots from gun...

[cynatnite]

A Kingsport man who teaches at a vocational school in Abingdon, Va., has been arrested after allegedly pulling a blank firing gun on his students, pointing it their direction and firing multiple times.

<--->

The Washington County Sheriffs Office reports the charges are class 6 felonies, with each count punishable up to five years incarceration and a $2,500 fine.

Washington County Sheriff Fred Newman reports School Superintendent Jim Sullivan notified the Sheriff’s Office of the incident. An investigation reportedly discovered Dillow "gathered" the attention of the 12 students in his welding class and lined them up near a garage door in the shop.

"He then pulled a 'blank firing handgun,' black in color, from the back waistband of his pants and discharged the weapon between four and ten shots in the direction of the line of the students," states a Wednesday afternoon press release. "The 'report' of the firearm was similar to that of a firearm that fires a projectile, thus placing the students in fear, according to statements. No students were physically injured as a result of the incident."

http://www.timesnews.net/article/9045481/police-kingsport-man-arrested-for-lining-up-his-students-firing-blank-shots-from-gun

[virgogal]

1. Words fail me.

[Cali_Democrat]

2. America's gun culture at work....

constantly.

[TBF]

3. "Dillow was released on a $20,000 unsecured bond" - lovely. nt

[Tom Ripley]

4. Someone had watched too many sitcoms

[Snake Alchemist]

5. Uh, blanks have killed on occassion. nt

[SoCalNative]

7. Exactly. Ask John Erik Hexum about how dangerous they can be

Oh wait, you can't.

[Broderick]

11. Brandon Lee

[cynatnite]

14. I was wondering if what happened to him would be applicable in this instance. n/t

[AsahinaKimi]

20. yes..sadly.

[MrSlayer]

6. Terrorizing the students, brilliant.

This is an insane country.

[lacrew]

8. Depending on the distance, very dangerous

[krispos42]

9. Well, that was stupid.

Have fun in prison, fucker.

[Broderick]

10. sigh. Brandon Lee

Jon-Erik Hexum


STUPID

[Rex]

12. What The Fuck

?

[malaise]

13. Throw away the keys

[ellisonz]

15. Ordinary in appearance...

...obsessed with violence in imagination.

[Quantess]

16. I guess he hated his job and sabotaged himself.

[madinmaryland]

17. Former teacher. Never to be one again.

dumbass.

[Kaleva]

18. That won't look good on his resume.

[guitar man]

19. What a dumbass

If somebody had been packing heat he might have took a round that wasn't a blank. Idiot.

[bongbong]

21. SYG definitely needed

Then (at least) one of his students could've shot back at him, since he would've felt VERY threatened.

[RKP5637]

22. Seriously, I often wonder how many people in the US are border

psychotic. When I was in school years ago the estimate was about 20% in need of some serious help. I'm guessing, just guessing, it must be about 35% now. There are a lot of people IMO that need some serious help that go untreated. And many feel empowered by the bizarre climate in the country anymore to act out their impulses.

[pipoman]

26. Nonsense

20%? 35%? Utter foolishness...bodies would be stacked like cord wood.. more like 4 or 5 per 100,000 would be in line with stats I would bet..

[RKP5637]

29. Here's one statistic ...

See >>> http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=about_mental_illness

Even though mental illness is widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion-about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 Americans-who live with a serious mental illness. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that One in four adults-approximately 57.7 million Americans-experience a mental health disorder in a given year
The U.S. Surgeon General reports that 10 percent of children and adolescents in the United States suffer from serious emotional and mental disorders that cause significant functional impairment in their day-to-day lives at home, in school and with peers.

[EC]

23. Man, was this guy acting out fantasies?

Thank goodness it wasn't a real gun. He likely shouldn't have been a teacher.

[Initech]

24. Ya wonder why I'm for stricter gun regulations?

Psychos like this should *NOT* be allowed to own or possess a firearm under any circumstances. Period. End of debate.

[pipoman]

27. My neighbor got drunk and ran over a bicyclist

he should not be allowed to drive ever again. My other neighbor who didn't get drunk and run over a bicyclist, OTOH, shouldn't be penalized.

[fascisthunter]

32. uber alles gunz-uh!

[pipoman]

33. Abel stopth noas

[EFerrari]

28. Yes, gun culture has created havoc here.

And it needs to stop.

[Electric Monk]

25. 5 years sounds about right for that

[FSogol]

30. Were any of the students wearing hoodies?

[davsand]

31. PTSD is a real possibility for every one of those kids.

I wonder if anybody has thought about that yet. I can only hope those poor kids are getting counseling after something like that.

That school is probably in a world of hurt if anybody wants to start filing liability lawsuits. I know that if my kid had been one of those twelve I'd sure be hiring a lawyer.



Laura

[bluedigger]

34. Sounds like he lost it.

60 year old guy, presumably with years of experience. Their repeated use of "blank firing gun" implies to me that it was a starter's pistol - I don't think you can hurt anyone with one of those unless you hit them with it, but that is an assumption on my part. Certainly the students wouldn't differentiate in the moment, and would be traumatized all the same. He should get 5-10 years, but they'll probably end up with 5 and probation...