ST PAUL, Minn. — When a student at Harding High School in St. Paul was arrested this week for bringing a gun to school, it wasn't the first incident this year involving a weapon.
Parents and students were unnerved by an incident recorded on video earlier this month. And there actually was a third incident this school year back in November when a boy was showing off a loaded gun.
A parent who used to teach there is worried that violent incidents are happening more frequently, and the school is not doing enough about it.
The disturbing video circulating among students and parents was filmed in a Harding High School bathroom on April 1, according to police and school officials.
Police say school staff learned about it when the video hit social media. Police later determined the weapon was a BB gun. They are investigating it as an armed robbery, but no one's been arrested.
"What I see… is frightening," said Barry Hand, a former Harding High School teacher who has a daughter in school there now.
Just Wednesday, Hand received another frightening text from his daughter that Harding High School was in lockdown.
"She's afraid, because she doesn't know what's going on," he said.
In this case, police say they arrested an "agitated" 16-year-old who came to school with a gun in his waistband.
The school sent parents an email about both incidents – but Hand doesn't think that's enough.
"The fact that's happening in the building where my child is there to learn – and it's not given the weight that it deserves – is really, really frustrating," Hand said.
Hand says he's reached out to the school where he used to work asking for answers and action.
"We want some really solid actions. Maybe those solid actions don't work? All right, let's try something new. But in the meantime let's show that we're doing something. We're not showing that we're doing anything but talking. Talking doesn't get those guns out of kids hands. Talking doesn't get the guns out of the schools," Hand said.
KARE 11 requested an interview with the Harding High School Principal but a district spokesperson declined that request.
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