Security guard working at Allen ISD school fired after leaving gun in restroom
ALLEN, Texas - An armed security guard who was working as a contractor in an Allen ISD school has been fired.
It comes after the guard left a loaded gun inside a campus staff bathroom.
The director of operations for L&P Global Security Company, the company hired by the district to provide security, called the incident a costly mistake.
The company is enhancing current protocols to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
"Obviously, I was very concerned. A parent’s worst nightmare is having a gun at the school and something going wrong," Allen ISD parent Stephan Tanner said.
An armed security guard at Story Elementary School in Allen was fired Tuesday after Allen ISD said he left his gun in a faculty bathroom that is not used by students.
In a letter to parents, the principal said a teacher found the gun less than a minute after the security guard left.
That’s too much time for Tanner, whose daughter is a kindergartner at the school.
"I think it gave me a sense of relief that a student didn’t grab it or didn’t have access to it. Still, it was concerning to me that there was a gun unattended for that amount of time," Tanner said.
The district said a teacher alerted the administration and an Allen police officer who was on campus collected the gun.
All students and staff were safe.
"It cost him his job. I don’t think he’s a bad man at all, I think he just made a mistake," said Charles Hollis, with L&P Global Security.
The guard was employed by L&P global security.
Hollis said the guard was vetted and completed the level three training requirements.
Company policy doesn’t allow a security guard’s gun to be removed unless there is a threat.
"If there wasn’t a threat present that warranted the gun to be removed from the holster, then I bring them in and they’re dismissed, that’s just the policy we have," he said.
In August, the Allen ISD Board voted to contract with L&P Global Security to provide armed guards on campuses for the school year.
Allen ISD hiring armed security for all school campuses
The state is requiring armed security on every school campus in response to the Robb Elementary mass shooting. The district has been discussing different options this summer. They decided to go with the route of contracting out security officers from a Dallas company.
A new state law went into effect September 1 that requires Texas school districts to have at least one armed officer at every school, or apply for a waiver if they can't meet the requirement.
"I don’t blame the parents at all for this response. I wish I could make them understand that this is isolated," Hollis said.
Hollis said the security firm has more than 100 guards in five school districts, and this is the first time something like this happened.
He said they are enhancing current measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
All current security guards will be required to retake and pass a training course on how to properly store and handle a gun.
They will also have daily uniform and gun belt inspections instead of every other day.
"The policies and procedures have been in place so firmly that it shocked all of us that this happened, but it did happen," Hollis said.
The security guard’s name is not being released.
There is a new armed security guard at the elementary school.
FOX 4 asked Allen ISD if it’s revaluating the contract with the security company after this incident, but we haven’t heard back yet.