An elementary school teacher in Pennsylvania allegedly threatened to shoot school district officials after a plastic barrier he had set up to protect himself from COVID-19 was taken down by janitors.
Authorities charged Chad Gerrick, a teacher at Sinking Springs Elementary School in York, with one misdemeanor count of terroristic threats.
According to a complaint affidavit filed by Northern York County Regional Police, Gerrick was overheard by a cafeteria worker threatening to “shoot all them f---ers” at the district’s administrative offices on Oct. 8.
According to police documents, Gerrick said he would “come to school and spread COVID to everyone I can” if he caught the virus.
His comments were made after the 50-year-old teacher discussed the barrier’s removal with school administrators.
“Investigators removed two long guns and a handgun from his Manchester Township home,” Fox 43 reports.
Gerrick was suspended pending an investigation.
York is located about 100 miles west of Philadelphia. U.S. census data indicates that the city has a population of roughly 44,800 people
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf mandated masks for teachers, administrators, and students in schools in September. On Oct. 7, Wolf said a repeal of the mandate depended on vaccinating school children.
"I think the key is not so much the date as when the vaccine becomes available to all school children and how fast we can get them vaccinated," Wolf said, per WGAL.
The state’s Department of Education requires masks at all activities held in indoor school facilities. The activity does not have to be a school activity for the mandate to apply.
