{"id":43092,"date":"2022-06-17T15:17:40","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T20:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=43092"},"modified":"2022-06-17T15:57:16","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T20:57:16","slug":"gun-found-in-diaper-bag-near-toddlers-texas-school-for-the-deaf-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2022\/06\/17\/gun-found-in-diaper-bag-near-toddlers-texas-school-for-the-deaf-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Gun found in diaper bag near toddlers, Texas School for the Deaf says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

INVESTIGATIONS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gun found in diaper bag near toddlers, Texas School for the Deaf says<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by: Matt Grant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posted: June 15, 2022 \/ 01:29 PM CDT
Updated: June 16, 2022 \/ 12:32 PM CDT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AUSTIN (KXAN) \u2014 A team member found a handgun inside a diaper bag, near toddlers playing on the floor, at at a family retreat held at the Texas School for the Deaf, school officials said. The discovery did not trigger a lockdown and police were not contacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KXAN was alerted to the incident \u2014 which occurred less than two weeks after the deadly school shooting in Uvalde \u2014 by several concerned participants who wished to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over that weekend, families of deaf or hard-of-hearing children from across the state gathered at the Austin campus for the Family Weekend Retreat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose involved in running the weekend event were notified but a high ranking executive team leader overruled the entire staff and prevented proper lockdown procedures from taking place,\u201d one participant said in an email, adding \u201cfailure to follow proper protocol put all of the families, children and staff members at risk, had the situation gone badly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After waiting a week to respond to a list of detailed questions provided by KXAN \u2014 including whether the gun was loaded \u2014 TSD spokesperson Gabriel Cardenas refused to comment. Instead, he forwarded us a letter dated June 9 \u2014 four days after the incident \u2014 sent to parents the day after KXAN first reached out seeking comment on June 8. The letter was signed by TSD Chief Financial Officer Justin Wedel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TSD sent KXAN the letter on June 15, 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ: Letter sent to TSD parents (ASL Version via YouTube)<\/a>
https:\/\/www.kxan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2022\/06\/LTR-Families-FWR-Safety-Eng-Sp.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No threat\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 5, 2022 a team member working in the Early Learning Center discovered the gun in a diaper bag \u201cnearby\u201d to where toddlers were playing on the floor, Wedel wrote in the letter. That person \u201cimmediately messaged for assistance.\u201d It is unclear who was contacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A staff member drove around with the gun while attempting to locate and return the firearm to its owner, who was allowed to leave without an escort, according to at least two people with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The owner of the diaper bag was identified, told to leave, and left the campus with family, Wedel wrote to parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school did not say who was called to assist but at least two participants told KXAN that neither security nor police were called. Austin police confirm school officials \u201ctook care of the situation\u201d internally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSchool officials did not file a report with APD,\u201d said Austin Police Dept. spokesperson Brandon Jones. \u201cAs stated in the letter sent to parents, school officials took care of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo minimize the risk to others, the diaper bag was immediately removed from the area since there were toddlers playing on the floor nearby,\u201d Wedel wrote. \u201cPLEASE NOTE that at no time was the gun removed from the bag. As such, a school wide lockdown was not activated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is unclear why the presence of a gun did not warrant a lockdown or why it was brought to the campus in the first place. KXAN requested a copy of the TSD lockdown policy to see if the discovery of a gun should have prompted a lockdown. The school says that information is confidential and is challenging the release of records with the Texas Attorney General\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe would like to reinforce there was no threat to the TSD campus and our facilities are secure,\u201d Wedel wrote to parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security changes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the incident, the school said it \u201ctakes these situations seriously\u201d and held several meetings with key staff members. As a result, additional safety measures are being \u201cconsidered to further minimize the chance of a recurrence\u201d including communication technologies, more staff training and \u201cphysical security enhancements for the campus,\u201d Wedel wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are many employees and staff who are now very concerned about their safety as well as children on the campus,\u201d a person with knowledge of the event, who wished to remain anonymous, told KXAN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guns are prohibited from campus, according to the school\u2019s code of conduct handbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, a man was arrested<\/a> after he was accused of threatening to \u201cshoot up\u201d the Austin-based school for deaf students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOURCE: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.kxan.com\/investigations\/gun-found-in-diaper-bag-near-toddlers-texas-school-for-the-deaf-says\/<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INVESTIGATIONS Gun found in diaper bag near toddlers, Texas School for the Deaf says by: Matt Grant Posted: June 15, 2022 \/ 01:29 PM CDTUpdated: June 16, 2022 \/ 12:32 PM CDT AUSTIN (KXAN) \u2014 A team member found a…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[4621,21,27351,27258,1764,27353,27354,9352,27352,604],"class_list":["post-43092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-article","tag-austin","tag-diaper","tag-gabriel-cardenas","tag-gun","tag-handgun","tag-justin-wedel","tag-kxan","tag-matt-grant","tag-texas-school-for-the-deaf"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-bd2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27392,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2014\/05\/14\/reschedule-concealed-handgun-class-chl-dfw\/","url_meta":{"origin":43092,"position":0},"title":"RESCHEDULE: Concealed Handgun Class (CHL) \u2013 DFW","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"May 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Concealed Handgun Class (CHL) \u2013 DFW It's been cancelled and will be reschedule another time. 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