Parkland school teacher leaves a loaded gun in public bathroom, gets arrested
Nearly two months after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, a Chemistry teacher of the same school was arrested earlier this week after he accidentally left a loaded gun in a public bathroom, according to reports.
A drunk, homeless man reportedly found the gun and eventually fired it, the bullet ended up hitting a wall. A 19-year-old former student Stoneman Douglas, Nikolas Cruz, opened fire in the campus with his legally-bought AR-15 rifle, killing 17 people. Most of the victims of the carnage included students and teachers. The Chemistry teacher, Sean Simpson, was a survivor of the massacre.
Miami Herald reported that the Broward Sheriff's Office deputies responded to the shooting scene on Sunday at the Deerfield Beach Pier near Fort Lauderdale in Florida.
Simpson reportedly told the deputies that he had mistakenly left the weapon, a Glock 9mm, in a bathroom stall and by the time he realized it, a homeless man had taken the loaded gun and fired it, according to reports. Later Simpson wrestled the gun away from the man. No one was wounded in the incident.
Simpson was later arrested on a misdemeanor charge for not safely storing his firearm, he was eventually released on bail. Local 10 News said that the Parkland school district does not intend to discipline the chemistry teacher for the offense.
Although the accidental shooting did not occur on the school premises, it confirms the argument made by the anti-gun activists and survivors of the massacre. The survivors have argued against arming certain teachers and staff members of schools with guns as a measure to avoid mass shooting in the institutions.
President Donald Trump and the pro-gun lobbying group, National Rifle Association (NRA), had advocated the idea of arming certain teachers shortly after the February massacre in Florida. Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), last month, signed a gun control legislation, which includes a provision to give weapons to some of the trained school employees and not full-time school teachers.