Pennsylvania teacher allegedly threatened to shoot school officials over plastic COVID barrier
Chad Gerrick is on leave from York school, according to reports
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Pennsylvania elementary school teacher has been arrested after allegedly threatening to shoot district officials because janitors removed a plastic barrier he set up in his classroom to protect against the spread of COVID-19, reports say.
Chad Gerrick, an educator at Sinking Springs Elementary School in York, is now charged with one misdemeanor count of terroristic threats, according to Fox43.
Last Friday, a cafeteria worker said she heard Gerrick threaten to "shoot all them f-----s" at the district’s administrative offices, the station reported, citing a criminal complaint affidavit filed by Northern York County Regional Police.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chad Gerrick is a teacher at Sinking Springs Elementary School in York, Pa. ( Northern York Regional Police)
Gerrick also said if he contracted coronavirus, he would "come to school and spread COVID to everyone I can," the police document reportedly added.
Police told Fox43 that the 50-year-old teacher was upset following a conversation he had with administrators over the removal of the plastic barrier he erected in his classroom.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gerrick was suspended by the school pending an investigation and detectives who searched his Manchester Township home seized two long guns and a handgun, Fox43 also reported, citing police.
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Meanwhile, the Central York School District says Gerrick’s school will operate remote-only through Friday because of new coronavirus cases.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Over the holiday weekend, the District continued to receive notification of several new positive cases of COVID-19," it said in a message posted on its website. "In the past 14 days, a total of 19 cases of COVID-19 have been reported at Sinking Springs Elementary."