Teacher's aid faces felony charges for bringing gun to school (VIDEO)

A New York educator with a concealed carry permit was charged with a felony after she was found with a 9mm handgun in her purse on campus.

Gillian L. Jeffords, 24, of Warwick, was charged Wednesday with criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds, a Class E felony, after a co-worker saw the pistol inside her purse in the closet of an empty classroom and called 911, according to the Clarkstown Police Department. A school resource officer took Jeffords into custody after the school went into lockdown.

“At no point was this weapon displayed or used in a threatening manner by the teacher’s aide,” says a release from CPD, the agency that arrested Jeffords at the Jesse J. Kaplan School Campus in West Nyack, where she has worked since last September. Rockland BOCES Schools, the district that runs Kaplan, noted that “students and staff are safe,” and that they are working with Clarkstown Police on the resulting investigation.

“I’m looking at it as a possible mistake,” said CPD Det. Lt. Glenn Dietrich, “but that, again, is something we’re trying to investigate a little bit more.”

Jeffords, who has both New York and Pennsylvania firearms licenses, had both her permits and Ruger LC9 handgun confiscated.

The teachers aid, on leave with pay by Rockland BOCES, has been released from police custody pending a court date in Clarkstown Criminal Court. A Class E felony in New York carries as much as four years in prison.

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