A teacher in Utah is being lauded as a hero after he pulled out his concealed carry weapon to stop a suspected kidnapper who allegedly tried to abduct a young girl as she played outside.
“This employee is protected under the Second Amendment. He followed all policy and procedure at the school, and in this particular case, did everything that he should have done to protect the innocent lives of the children at the school,” Lt. Brian Eynon of the Ogden City Police Department said. “And in this case, it is likely that a life was saved or injury to a life was prevented due to the actions of this heroic employee.”
The scene unfolded at a Utah elementary school on Tuesday, where the unidentified teacher, who has a concealed carry permit, was watching the students from inside the school when he noticed the suspect, Ira Cox-Berry, approach an 11-year-old girl.
“An employee was watching the kids from the inside and observed the suspect walk up to this 11-year-old girl (on the playground) and put his hands on her in an attempt to take her,” Eynon added. “He ran outside, the employee did, and confronted the suspect. At that same time, the girl had the ability to pull away from the suspect.”
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The teacher was able to get about 20 students off of the playground and into the school. But Cox-Berry tried to punch a window of the school to gain access, prompting the teacher to pull out the concealed carry weapon and call 911.
Police soon responded and arrested the suspect after a struggle. Eynon added that Cox-Berry “was high, high on some type of narcotic.”
“This teacher, in particular, was very prepared emotionally to confront a suspect he didn’t know, that was most likely on drugs, could be dangerous, could have been armed, and he took it upon himself to protect and be a hero, frankly, for the children who are on scene there when this went down,” said Eynon.
The school district also lauded the employee as a hero, saying emergency response protocols were followed and resulted in a peaceful result.
“A teacher intervened when there was a situation that threatened students’ safety. This teacher, this school employee, is a hero. We don’t disagree with that at all,” Ogden School District’s Jer Bates said. “Yes, it was a very scary situation, something we take very seriously, but it came out with a good ending, meaning no students were physically harmed, no adults were physically harmed, that this was an incident where our emergency response protocols were acted out.”
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The suspect was charged with one count of child kidnapping, a first-degree felony, with more charges pending.
This isn’t the first time an armed person has been heralded as a hero during a dangerous situation. Last month, a father shopping at a Nebraska mall pulled out his concealed carry during a fatal shooting to protect his family and bystanders.
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