Robby Stuteville: Texas school superintendent resigns after 3rd-grader finds his gun in bathroom
RISING STAR, TEXAS: After his unattended gun was discovered by a third-grade student Leighton Mata in a school bathroom, the superintendent of a Texas school resigned. Robby Stuteville, the superintendent of Rising Star Independent School District, resigned from his post on Monday, one month after the firearm was found.
Superintendent Stuteville confirmed last week that a third-grader at Rising Star Elementary School discovered his gun in the restroom in January and quickly alerted a teacher without touching or moving the weapon, KTAB/KRBC reported. The superintendent told outlets that both he and the school principal openly carried guns on the campus.
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The gun was unattended roughly for '15 minutes'
Stuteville claimed that when using the restroom, he took the gun off and put it in a stall. He said that he then left the stall unattended for roughly 15 minutes before the student discovered the gun. “There was never a danger other than the obvious,” Stuteville claimed.
'Why would you send a kid?'
The parents of the student involved in the incident, as per the report, claimed that he went back to class and alerted the instructor who, in turn, sent a second student into the bathroom to confirm if it was a real gun. That boy’s father, Giovanni Mata, questioned the teacher’s decision asking,
“Why would you send a kid? Why not send someone else?” Mata wondered.
Mata said the shooting event touched too close to home for him because he had just recently moved from Uvalde, Texas, the scene of the tragic school shooting in May that claimed the lives of 19 students and two instructors. “You can’t say that was a mistake to leave a gun there,” the father added. “You can’t mistake a life,” he said as per the New York Post.
“This is one of those examples of guns in schools,” Stuteville said. “Regardless of who takes responsibility, they are a considerable danger and one should school their child to be on the lookout for any unusual placement of a weapon or anything out of place.” He then went on to say he was “proud” of the student and commended his behavior after finding the firearm.
'Why we as parents had to find out about it through the news?'
Several parents voiced their disappointment at being kept in the dark about the incident for a month during an emergency meeting. “Why we as parents had to find out about it through the news? It only makes the school seem like they have something to hide,” one attendee stated.
Elizabeth Lee, who has two grandchildren in Rising Star schools, said Stuteville’s action was “irresponsible,” according to ABC News 4. “For our kids’ protection, we need someone who is more responsible with a gun,” she said.
Rising Star Police Chief Don Braly confirmed there is an active investigation that began Wednesday, February 22, after his office was notified of the incident. Chief Braly says the Eastland County Sheriff’s Office took a phone call, and that was the first time anyone had alerted law enforcement, despite the gun being found in January. Braly told the outlets that he is currently looking into the legalities to investigate about failure to report the firearm.