(RNN) – A teacher in Georgia who fired a gun inside his classroom has been sentenced to two years in prison and eight years probation.
Randal Davidson pleaded guilty to charges that included damage to property and carrying a gun on campus.
In February, he sparked a panic at Dalton High School in north Georgia, after barricading himself in the classroom and firing a single shot.
There weren’t any students in the classroom at the time, and no one was hurt, but the episode sent children running and caused a frantic evacuation.
The Daily Citizen-News of Dalton reported that Davidson told the court he had gone to school that day intending to commit suicide, “in a place he felt loved.”
The former social studies teacher apologized and said he felt remorse.
“He did not mean to hurt those kids,” his attorney said, according to the Citizen-News. “But he was so absorbed in his own depression and his own mental illness that he just wasn’t considering them.”
The school’s principal, Steve Bartoo, said he thought the apology was sincere.
“I know that Randal was a good teacher, and what happened caught us all by surprise,” Bartoo said. “It hurt.”
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