An elementary school teacher in the southern state of Tennessee is accused of shooting and wounding the principal and assistant principal at his school on Wednesday about an hour after children were dismissed because of snow.
Police charged Mark Stephen Foster, 48, with two counts of attempted first-degree murder after the shooting at Inskip Elementary School. The school Web site identifies Foster as a fourth-grade teacher.
A former boss of Foster’s said the suspect was taken into custody in the 1990s with weapons near their office after making threatening comments about him to family members.
University of Tennessee Medical Center officials said principal Elisa Luna remained in critical condition and assistant principal Amy Brace was in stable condition on Wednesday night.
“We’re very saddened by this tragedy,” Knox County Schools Superintendent James McIntyre Jr said. “Thankfully there were no students involved.”
The Web profile for Foster includes a picture and description that says, “I love teaching 4th grade. Every child is a winner.”
Police haven’t released a motive for the shooting. McIntyre said the school didn’t intend to rehire Foster next term.
Foster was arrested a short distance from the school after his car was stopped at a highway construction roadblock, police chief Sterling Owen IV said. He surrendered without incident and police said they recovered a revolver. It wasn’t immediately known if he had an attorney.
Oak Ridge Tool Engineering CEO Terry Mullins said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that police captured an armed Mark Foster not far from their office in the 1990s after his mother warned police about the threatening statements. Mullins said police told him that Foster intended to harm him.
Oak Ridge police did not immediately return a call seeking more information about the incident.
The Inskip administrators had been praised for their work at the elementary school, where Luna had been the principal since 2004 and Brace had been assistant principal since July 2008.
State Senator Jamie Woodson said the legislature honored the principal in 2007 for her work leading the school off the state’s list of schools not meeting the goals of No Child Left Behind program. The school of more than 300 students in grades kindergarten through fifth has met annual goals every year since 2004.
Police said the shooting occurred in the administrative offices of the school shortly before 1pm. Although the students had been dismissed, there were several staff members in the building.
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