Parent charged with bringing gun to Nashville high school during fight among students: PD
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A parent was arrested after bringing a gun to a Nashville school while students were involved in a fight, according to police.
Barquita Williams, 38, was arrested after police said she brought a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun to East Nashville Magnet School Thursday afternoon.
Two girls, who had argued earlier in the day, had apparently become involved in a physical fight after seeing each other in a stairwell and other students joined in.
Williams and other parents who were outside to pick up their children heard about the fight and went inside the school.
After officers broke up the fight, multiple parents told officers that Williams had a gun. That's when Metro Police say a School Resource Officer recovered a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. She was taken into custody. Williams is free on $1,000 bond.
FOX17 News spoke with a mother who tells us her daughter was involved in the fight. She does not want to be identified.
“My daughter could’ve died yesterday. That’s all I can think about,” says the mother.
Police say a school resource officer found a handgun on Williams.
“A lot of them are scared to go back to the school,” one mother says about her daughter and friends.
The mother feels leaders at Metro Nashville Schools (MNPS) did not do their jobs, including East Magnet’s principal.
“I asked him and one of the school resource officers what they were gonna do to help me feel safe sending my daughter back to school and he basically told me I should just transfer my daughter,” says the mother.
FOX 17 News asked MNPS what leaders are doing to ensure schools are kept safe. A spokesperson says the school is committed to the safety and education of all of its students and will be doing a security assessment.
“You have a high school, grades 9 through 12. I’m not sure how many students there are, but you need way more than two resource officers in that school,” says the mother.
“As a mother, how does it feel knowing that someone at your daughter’s school had a gun?” asks FOX 17 News Reporter Amanda Chin.
“I can’t describe that feeling. It’s worse than frightening. It’s worse than scared, it’s like that feeling you get in the bottom of your stomach,” says the mother.
The mother also expressed frustration with communication from the district. She wishes they would’ve notified everyone about the incident earlier.
Full statement from Metro Nashville Public Schools:
There was an incident that occurred after school yesterday at East Nashville Magnet High involving students, in which parents got involved. A gun was identified and confiscated from one of the parents. The parent was detained by law enforcement. East High school is committed to the safety and education of all their students. This was a violation of law, and criminal charges will be brought against the parent, and the other parents involved will be banned from the campus. The students involved will be subject to school board policy and disciplinary actions. MNPS Security will be working with the principal to do a security assessment to determine if any changes to procedures need to be made to prevent future incidents like this from happening again.
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