Ga. teacher who barricaded himself in classroom and shot through a window had encountered police before

Davidson

A social-studies teacher in Dalton, Ga. (pop. 34,000), is facing charges after he barricaded himself in his classroom at Dalton High School with a gun yesterday. When the principal tried to enter the room, Randal Davidson, 53, fired a shot through his classroom window with a .38 caliber snub-nosed revolver. Students were evacuated and he surrendered to police within 30 to 45 minutes. No one was injured except for a girl who hurt her ankle while evacuating, Lauren Foreman and Ellen Eldridge report for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The incident comes as President Trump and the National Rifle Association have recommended armed teachers as a defense for school shootings, sparking a national debate. Most proposals to arm teachers would require vetting for mental health and experience with firearms. Dalton High does not allow guns on campus, and Davidson has had two previous run-ins with police that would make him unlikely to pass such vetting.

Though Davidson has no criminal record, in March 2016 he told local police that he wanted to confess to having someone killed. He told the police that he had had an internet affair with his adopted son's girlfriend, but then had her killed because she was an abusive parent. He also said he was on several medications for depression and had been released from the hospital that day. Police couldn't verify any of his information from, including whether the victim existed, and concluded that he might be delusional, the Dalton Daily Citizen reports. Davidson was taken to a local hospital because of suicidal thoughts, and police promised to follow up with his son later.

"Then, in January 2017, Davidson disappeared from the high school campus after saying he didn’t feel well," Foreman and Eldridge report. "He was found hours later sitting on a curb about a mile away, unable or unwilling to respond to police, according to the report. He was again taken to the hospital and no further action was taken by officers."

Davidson has been at Dalton since 2004, and in 2012 was recognized as the school's top teacher. Before teaching, he was the sports and news director at local radio station WBLJ-AM.