Teacher fires gun in empty classroom; no one hurt

ATLANTA — A social studies teacher barricaded himself inside a classroom at a Georgia high school on Wednesday and fired a handgun in what may have been a warning shot, authorities said.

No students were in the classroom at the time, and the only injury was a student who hurt her ankle running when Dalton High School was evacuated. It wasn’t immediately clear why the teacher had the gun at the school and fired it.

The shooting happened with a nation on edge two weeks after a Florida school shooting left 17 students and faculty dead and ignited a new debate over gun control in America. Within minutes of the shooting, students hunkered down at Dalton High took to social media to call for restricting gun rights.

The teacher, 53-year-old Jesse Randal Davidson, was taken into custody without incident after a 30to 45-minute standoff with officers, Dalton police spokesman Bruce Frazier said. Davidson, a teacher since 2004, also serves as the playby-play announcer for the high school’s football team, police said in a tweet.

Police noted that Davidson didn’t appear to want to hurt the students or faculty. He fired the gun at an exterior window when the principal tried to enter the classroom.

“I don’t know whether he was just firing the gun off to let people know to back off or what,” Frazier said.

The shooting happened about 11:30 a.m., during Davidson’s planning period. At first, students tried to get into the classroom, but they couldn’t. The students told the principal, who tried to open the door with a key. That’s when Davidson fired the gun and the school was placed on lockdown, authorities said.

Davidson faces six charges, including aggravated assault involving a gun and terroristic threats and acts, jail records showed.