Tag: Clarkstown Police Department
Teacher’s aide arrested for bringing loaded gun to NY school
WEST NYACK, N.Y. — A teacher’s aide was arrested Wednesday for bringing a loaded firearm to a West Nyack-area school, officials said.
Police were called about 9 a.m. about a teacher’s aide possessing a firearm at Jesse J. Kaplan School, located at 65 Parrott Road, the Clarkstown Police Department said. The school educates children and adults ages 5 to 21 who have disabilities, and offers education, nursing services and therapy, its website states.
Gillian Jeffords, 24, was taken into custody after a colleague spotted a handgun in Jeffords’ purse, which was stored inside a classroom closet, and notified the principal who in turn called police.
No students were in the classroom at the time.
The school resource officer, who also works for the Police Department, responded and secured the weapon, police said.
The campus was temporarily locked down and buses taking students to school were re-routed, school officials said.
After being questioned, police said Jeffords was arrested. She has a license to carry in both New York and Pennsylvania, but bringing a loaded weapon to a classroom is a felony, officials added.
Investigators don’t believe the gun — a .9-mm Ruger — was ever taken out of the aide’s bag or used in a threatening manner, according to police.
Jeffords has been suspended with pay, school officials said. She was released on an appearance ticket and is set to appear in court in May.
The ordeal comes more than a month after President Donald Trump promoted the idea of arming teachers in the wake of a shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida that resulted in the deaths of 17 people.
It is not yet known why the teacher’s aide was armed.