An Allegan County, Michigan teacher has found themselves suspended and under investigation by the Michigan State Police as a result of “violent, and detailed” comments he allegedly made to students at Hopkins High School in regard to the recent Oxford High School shooting, according to a new report from local News Channel 3.
Hopkins High School principal Ken Szczepanski reveals that the comments made by the unnamed high school teacher clearly referenced physical violence and weapons just a mere day after Ethan Crumbley opened fire in his high school, gunning down 4 of his fellow students and injuring an additional 7.
One Hopkins High parent, who wished to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation, told the local publication, “The things that he said, how he would’ve committed the act differently with detail, is extremely scary.”
The parent explained that her child was subjected to the heinous comments during class on Wednesday.
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“That he would’ve pulled a smoke detector, so that he could create a distraction, in order to carry out his hitlist and kill the people that he would need to,” the unnamed parent alleged. “It was gut-wrenching devastation that a grown adult would mentally harm our children this way.”
Szczepanski, the school’s principal, refused to give any details surrounding the teacher’s actual comments to students in the school. However, he did confirm that the school was conducting an investigation into comments with a theme of physical violence and weapons that were allegedly made in numerous classroom periods. The principal explained that a memo had been sent out to Hopkins High teachers, urging them to discuss and talk to their students about the Oxford High School shooting, but one teacher took that prompt way too far.
“They were insensitive, in regard to being the day after Oxford and they were off-script,” Szczepanski stated.
The local report goes on to note that a bad situation was made that much worse when the Hopkins superintendent revealed that students, parents, and officials in the district “awoke to rumors” on Friday that an employee of Hopkins High School was going to “shoot up” the school.
We would not have been in school today had we not felt that it was a safe environment for these students,” Szczepanski said. “This is a contained situation.”
The superintendent penned a letter to parents on Friday, explaining that the rumors had stemmed from an inappropriate classroom conversation — as it turns out, it was comments from the teacher who allegedly detailed how Crumbley’s crime could have been enacted better, leading students to fear that the teacher would soon be committing a school shooting themselves.
One parent spoke out on Friday, demanding that the teacher in question be fired from their job at Hopkins High School.
“Zero tolerance, zero tolerance, absolutely not should he be back in school or teaching anywhere, ever,” the parent stated.
News Channel 3 notes that the unnamed teacher in question is currently on leave from Hopkins High School until Michigan State Police have completed their investigation.
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via screen capture
