Manuael Ernest Dillow, a Virginia high school teacher, has been arrested for allegedly shooting a blank gun at his students during class earlier this month. He faces 12 felony charges of brandishing a firearm on school property.
"One for each student who was in there. And basically the charges result of inciting fear into the students," Washington County Virginia Sheriff Fred Newman told WCYB. None of the students were hurt.
The incident reportedly occurred April 4 at William H. Neff Center, a vocational high school in Abingdon, Va. On that day, The 60-year-old Dillow gathered the dozen students in his welding class, lined them up near a garage door in the welding shop and from the waistband of his pants, produced a "blank firing handgun" and fired four to 10 shots in the students' direction, the Kingsport Times News reports.
Dillow had borrowed the firearm from a teacher in a separate department, and Washington County Virginia Public Schools Superintendent Jim Sullivan confirmed to WCYB that the gun is a teaching aid for a criminal justice class at the school.
Dillow has temporarily been removed from the classroom, and his future at the school is undecided. The motives behind his actions are also at the center of the police investigation, WTVR reports.
Dillow was released on a $20,000 unsecured bond with a scheduled May 7 hearing date.
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