A California high school teacher unintentionally fired his gun Tuesday while leading a lesson on firearm safety, injuring three students, police said.
According to KSBW and CNN, Seaside High School teacher Dennis Alexander, a Sand City Police Department reserve officer and the mayor pro tempore of Seaside, accidentally fired at the ceiling during his Administration of Justice class. Three students were hurt – including a 17-year-old boy with bullet fragments "lodged into his neck" – as debris fell from the ceiling, KSBW reported. Seaside police said the students' injuries were not serious.
The 17-year-old victim's father, Fermin Gonzales, said Alexander was preparing to show the students how to disarm a suspect and was checking whether his gun was loaded when the incident occurred.
Alexander, who "was not authorized to have a gun on campus," is now on administrative leave from the school and police department, KSBW reported.