AURORA | A Rangeview High School employee likely won’t face charges after he accidentally shot a student in the leg in the school’s parking lot Monday afternoon, police said.
Police and school officials haven’t released the employee’s name or his job title at the school, saying only that he wasn’t a teacher or one of the district’s armed security officers, though he did work another armed security job off campus. District officials said the employee has been placed on paid administrative leave while the district investigates the incident.
The student, who is an adult, was significantly injured but is expected to survive, police said.
The incident happened around 4:30 p.m. Monday in the parking lot of the school at 17599 E. Iliff Ave.
Police said the school employee knew the student and was giving him a ride home from school. While the two were in the employee’s car in the school parking lot, the employee tried to put his gun, which he uses for his security job, into the glove box.
The gun accidentally discharged, striking the student in the leg.
Aurora police Spokesman Officer Frank Fania said the employee didn’t call 911 and rushed the student to a local hospital.
Detectives are investigating the incident, Fania said, but as of Tuesday it doesn’t appear the employee will face any charges.
Because the investigation is ongoing, Fania said Tuesday afternoon that investigators can not yet release the police reports.
Colorado law generally prohibits guns on school campuses but has exceptions for guns in school parking lots if the guns belong to armed security guards or concealed weapon permit holders.
Paula Hans, a spokeswoman for Aurora Public Schools, said the district is investigating the law and district policies regarding weapons in employee cars.
Hans said the district couldn’t say what the employee’s job is at the school because it would lead to identifying the employee. APS said the employee has been placed on paid administrative leave pending investigation by the district.
In a statement Tuesday, APS Superintendent John Barry stressed that the incident was an accident.
“Again, this was an accidental shooting. Please be assured that the safety and security of our students is a top priority in Aurora Public Schools,” Barry’s statement said.
I wonder what would’ve happened had it been a student’s gun that accidentally went off and shot an adminatrator in the leg.
More evidence of a two class society: the privileged who work for the government, and the rest of us. Those who work for the government get a pass on prosecution, and here the government employee gets a free paid vacation. He also gets to keep his name out of the news (I question why Johansson didn’t report it, he could have simply asked the injured student, his family, or students at the school).
If this had been the other way around, the student would be in jail and his name published.
We’ve created a society in which criminals look for government jobs where they can commit crimes without fear of prosecution, exposure, and where there’s lots of the public’s money to steal where they’ll have the job of finding the thief. And if they don’t find the thief (as they won’t) that’s OK as there’s no penalty for that in government.
“The gun accidentally discharged…” No, they don’t that. Someone has to pull the trigger, perhaps unintentionally, because of negligence. The gun should have been in a holster that covered the trigger guard, and an unholstered gun should never be in a glove box. That’s asking for something like this to happen. Negligent discharges can be prosecuted as misdemeanors, so if this one isn’t the actor should consider himself lucky. But he probably should not keep his security job. He wouldn’t, if I were his boss. He and the school district are probably looking at some serious civil liability.