A security guard at a north Texas elementary school leaves something behind, and he is now out of a job.
After using an adult bathroom at Story Elementary School in Allen ISD, the security guard forgot his gun.
"A teacher entered the restroom approximately 56 seconds after the security officer exited the restroom and found the firearm," said Principal Claudia Harrison in a letter sent home to parents. "The teacher instantly alerted Story administration. An Allen police officer, who was also on campus, immediately collected the firearm."
Harrison says no kids were ever in any danger.
"No students accessed the staff restroom during this time," Harrison said. "All students and staff are safe inside the building."
Harrison did not name the guard but said he would not be back.
"The security officer has been removed from any present or future duty in Allen ISD," Harrison said.
The officer was working for L&P Global Security, which Allen ISD and other districts have contracted with to provide armed security in compliance with a new state law requiring them.
The company has fired the guard.
"If you do it without threat or cause and we find out about it, we dismiss you automatically, and that's what happened with this guard," Vice President of Operations Charles Hollis said. "This guy that was dismissed from us was a good guard. We never had any problems. It's just that we have zero tolerance for this."
Hollis says while the guard's intentions were good, his actions were unacceptable.
"Our guard unfortunately thought that if he hung his gun belt up, the gun might fall to the ground while he was using the bathroom," Hollis said. "And that needed to be addressed that with the Level III holsters, they're not going to drop to the ground."
Hollis says in light of this incident, all guards will undergo additional training.
"We have got all these protocols in place," Hollis said. "I have tweaked it and enhanced our existing protocols to be more detailed, and everyone is immediately going to respond to the tweaks to the protocols that are going to be done. All current guards and incoming guards are going to be subject to it."
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