Teacher’s 2016 case surprise to school

ATLANTA — A Georgia teacher accused of firing a handgun in his classroom had three rifles taken away after setting the family car ablaze at his home two years ago, according to a sheriff’s report obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

But authorities responsible for protecting his workplace — Dalton High School — say they didn’t learn about the episode until this week.

Deputies in Dade County, where social studies teacher Jesse Randal Davidson lives, took him to a hospital for a mental evaluation and seized the rifles for safekeeping after he torched the Mitsubishi Outlander on Aug. 13, 2016.

This sheriff’s report and two others from the Dalton Police Department in Whitfield County show Davidson has been hospitalized at least three times in recent years as people worried about his state of mind.

Davidson didn’t hit anyone when he allegedly fired a handgun out his classroom window at Dalton High School on Wednesday, but it caused chaos and immediate calls to abandon the idea of arming teachers as a solution to school shootings. President Donald Trump and other Republicans have endorsed arming teachers after the killings of 17 people at a Florida high school two weeks ago.

Davidson faces six charges including aggravated assault; terroristic threats and acts; and having a weapon on school property.