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View Full Version : School says mom 'fired' toy gun in class



LiberalNation
04-19-2007, 05:14 PM
Over reaction by the cops, no way this is assualt. Stupid sure......

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070419/ap_on_re_us/mother_toy_gun;_ylt=AuOSz_p6SeFOGA8oxHWB9clvzwcF

CHURCH HILL, Tenn. - The mother of a kindergartner was charged with assault Thursday and banned from school after officials said she walked into the child's classroom, pointed a toy cap gun at students and pulled the trigger several times.

It happened Tuesday, a day after the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech, and scared teachers and students, the school principal said.

Church Hill police and Hawkins County school officials met with Heather Nicole Berg, 26, before charging her with misdemeanor assault, police said. She had already been banned from Church Hill Elementary School for a year.

Police declined to say why Berg had the cap gun with her but called her actions "a monumental lapse in judgment."

"A staff member and several children initially thought the gun was real and were fearful," police chief Mark Johnson said in a press release.

School officials said the woman was in the classroom to pay for an upcoming field trip. While the teacher's back was turned, "The mom walked in toward the middle of the classroom, and the teacher heard this click, click, click, click — like four to six times," Principal Jean Heise said.

"A teacher's assistant witnessed her take a gun and point it directly toward four to five kids. With everything that's happened the last couple of days, she (the assistant) was just in shock," the principal said.

She then left with the small child and took the toy gun with her.

Heise called police.

Berg had a court appearance set for April 30. She could face up to a year in prison and a maximum fine of $2,500 if convicted of assault. Church Hill is near Kingsport, along the Virginia border.

Abbey Marie
04-19-2007, 05:15 PM
...a monumental lapse in judgment."

Ya think?

Mr. P
04-19-2007, 05:25 PM
Over reaction by the cops, no way this is assualt. Stupid sure......



Actually it is assault and I hope she gets the max in jail for it!

In most states, an assault/battery is committed when one person 1) tries to or does physically strike another, or 2) acts in a threatening manner to put another in fear of immediate harm.

darin
04-19-2007, 05:27 PM
A CAP GUN is NOT threatening. A woman 'shooting' kids with a Cap gun (who MAY have been giggling) is NOT threatening. It's a case of Ninnyism run amok.

LiberalNation
04-19-2007, 05:29 PM
What if that threatening manner is not really a threat to the people. Their fear was short lived when they could clearly see the orange cap.

lily
04-19-2007, 05:35 PM
Ya think?


Obviously not her first time:


She had already been banned from Church Hill Elementary School for a year.

Sure hope some one is keeping an eye on her kid. She sure doesn't sound too stable.

shattered
04-19-2007, 05:38 PM
Police declined to say why Berg had the cap gun with her but called her actions "a monumental lapse in judgment."

Lapse in judgement? How about sheer fucking stupidity?

Mr. P
04-19-2007, 05:42 PM
A CAP GUN is NOT threatening. A woman 'shooting' kids with a Cap gun (who MAY have been giggling) is NOT threatening. It's a case of Ninnyism run amok.

I disagree. I knew a guy, an acquaintance, who presented a gun to a druggist one night and demanded drugs. The druggist dispatched him with one shot to the chest from his own gun. He had a play gun, but it was clearly a threat to the druggist.

This story is about a kindergarten class..what do you think was going through their little minds? FEAR maybe?

Kathianne
04-19-2007, 07:05 PM
A CAP GUN is NOT threatening. A woman 'shooting' kids with a Cap gun (who MAY have been giggling) is NOT threatening. It's a case of Ninnyism run amok.

I understand what you are saying and agree with it if it was a child. However, this was a 26 year old, already noticed for causing problems at the school. Then to do such a thing? My guess, kids were already afraid of her for other reasons, which is why the cap gun was scary.