An Indiana mother was arrested after allegedly bringing a gun to her daughter’s elementary school and threatening to murder a lesbian teacher’s family over an assignment she thought was LGBTQ-related
Carrie Rivers, 48, allegedly stormed into Valley Mills Elementary School in Indianapolis Wednesday with a pistol tucked in her waistband and accosted her daughter’s sixth-grade teacher over “a work assignment that had to do with same-sexuality relationships,” according to an alarming arrest affidavit obtained by NBC News.
Officers responding to calls of an “irate parent” on campus confronted Rivers, who called her daughter’s teacher a homophobic slur and said she was withdrawing the girl from Valley Mills in favor of home schooling — when officers asked if she was carrying a gun.
“Carrie Rivers stated that she did have a gun as I was removing it from her person,” the responding officer’s affidavit read. “[Rivers] stated that she didn’t even realize that she had it on because she is so used to wearing it and has been on school property with it before.”
Rivers was let go, but within a half-hour she was sending vile and threatening messages to the teacher.
“God will condemn you to hell,” one of the messages read, while another called the teacher — who has a photo of her wife and child on her classroom desk — “a child predator.”
“Say ur prayers and kiss ur kids goodbye and goodnight u never know when god says its our time so be prepared,” read another message allegedly sent by Rivers.
Another accused the teacher of telling “precious innocent kids that it’s ok to be in same sex relationships,” while Rivers told police the teacher was “trying to push her personal agenda in regard to sexuality on her daughter,” the affidavit read.
The teacher, however, told police the assignment was merely about flags, and that she’d pointed out a rainbow pride flag hanging in the classroom with the words “Be Kind” printed across it as an example of a non-national flag.
Rivers daughter was allowed to skip the assignment, the teacher said.
The girl’s father insisted it was totally normal for parents to bring guns to school — despite laws prohibiting it — and that plenty of other parents do it “all the time.”
“You know, just coming and dropping the kids off and walking back out, like, for three seconds. They park in the front, drop the kid off, walk them in, and walk right back out,” father Leon Rivers told NBC News, insisting his wife “forgot to leave it” behind on Wednesday.
The mother was barred from campus, the school telling NBC News she made no threats while on school grounds — but that after she allegedly sent the teacher the threatening messages, a warrant was put out for her arrest.
“We are committed to ensuring a safe learning environment for students and staff, and are grateful for the quick action of the office staff and school police in handling the situation safely,” the Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township said in a statement.