An armed school security officer contracted to work for the Arlington Independent School District was fired after forgetting their gun belt in an elementary school bathroom.
The incident happened on Tuesday afternoon at Jones Academy of Fine Arts and Dual Language. Parents were notified about the incident in a letter.
According to a spokesperson for the school district, “All armed campus security officers are contracted by the district to carry out their services. Jones Academy is staffed by Tier One.”
Tier One is a Dallas-based security service provider. Timothy Grega, Tier One's chief of operations, said the company is investigating the moments that led up to when an armed security officer left his gun belt behind in a Jones Academy bathroom just before 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
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In an email to parents, Arlington ISD stated, “The duty belt was found at 1:31 p.m. by a staff member and reported. No students entered the restroom during that span.”
According to the school district, the campus security officer was removed from the campus shortly after.
"It's Tier One policy that should an incident arise, anything that we deem as a critical incident such as this, we immediately place the individual on suspension pending investigation," Grega said. “Later on in the afternoon, evening, it was determined that we were going to terminate the individual due to the egregious nature of the issue.”
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Parents like Kacie Elwood told NBC 5 they were shocked that a trained professional would make such a mistake.
“Very scary situation. I have a kindergartner, a fifth grader here,” Elwood said. “And just yesterday, the email was shocking and scary.”
In a phone call with NBC 5, Grega provided more insight into the officer’s background with Tier One and training as required by the state.
“The officer had been with us for less than a year, and they do not have a law enforcement or police or military background. Their background has been in the security industry,” Grega said. “We train for issues like this to not occur. We have higher standards than are required by the state. The state says you have to have 70% on all knowledge-based exams and 70% on your pistol qualifications. Our standards are 90% across the board. We continue to research and develop ways to mitigate issues like this and to better serve our communities.”
Some parents voiced concerns over the presence of armed officers on school campuses, but since 2023, the state has required all schools to have an armed security officer on the premises. However, it is up to the school district to establish how many officers are present on each campus.
"They are not police. They do not have the same authority as police. What they do have is similar training and they have arrest ability, the same as a regular citizen would," Grega said. "So, our officers are in these schools primarily to protect the children, staff and visitors of that school from any potential violent harm."
While thankful that no child encountered the gun, parents said they’re using the opportunity to once again talk about guns and gun safety.
“We talked to both of our kids about what would happen if they ever found a gun at school or if they were confronted with a friend finding a gun at school and what the appropriate thing is to do. And yeah, it was a hard conversation,” Elwood said.
Any potential protocol changes, the district said, would be Tier One's responsibility.
