Shots fired at north Georgia high school; teacher in custody, no students injured

Published 12:35 pm Wednesday, February 28, 2018

DALTON, Ga. — Shots were fired at a north Georgia high school Wednesday morning and a teacher is in custody. No students were injured by gun fire.

Police identified the teacher as Randal Davidson.

The Dalton High School social studies teacher fired at least one shot that led to the evacuation of the school, according to a statement released by the Dalton Police Department.

Davidson, 53, has been a longtime radio play-by-play announcer for Dalton High sports, most notably calling Friday night football games on 104.5 FM. Davidson has authored two books on the history of Dalton High football.

Police are not not saying anything about the reason behind the shooting at Dalton High School.

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One student injured an ankle running to safety and was treated by first responders, according to authorities.

The school building was placed on lockdown and students were then evacuated to the Dalton Convention Center. An alert was sent to parents with instructions to pick up their children at the convention center, police said.

One student described the scene as “crazy,” saying students were running panicked through the school.

The incident occurred as the nation debates the merits of President Donald Trump’s proposal to arm educators. Three teachers were among the 17 people killed in the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

“We don’t know if the teacher dropped the gun, threatened anyone, shot themself or whatever,” State Rep. Steve Tarvin, R-Chickamauga (Georgia) said shortly after word of the shooting started to spread at the state Capitol in Atlanta.

Georgia has allowed local school boards to decide whether to arm teachers and staff since lawmakers passed the so-called “Guns Everywhere” bill in 2014.

It does not appear that any school systems have decided to go that route, although a handful of districts have started discussing it since the recent Florida shooting.

“The issue of teachers carrying weapons inside the school is a matter that is up to the local school board,” Tarvin said. “You have to realize those teachers would be highly trained, just a like a policeman would.”

Dalton High School had an increased police presence in recent days after the discovery of a threatening note surfaced two weeks ago. The threat resulted in increased patrols at all city schools and a drop in attendance last week after Dalton Public Schools posted a video from Dalton High Principal Steve Bartoo to social media informing students and parents of the threat.

This is a developing story.