KXAN: Handgun found inside a diaper bag at Texas School for the Deaf
KXAN News in Austin, Texas reported that during a family retreat held at the Texas School for the Deaf during the first weekend of June, a “team member found a handgun inside a diaper bag, near toddlers playing on the floor.”
KXAN said they were notified about this by “several concerned participants who wished to remain anonymous.”
The Family Weekend Retreat (FWR) event is when families across Texas with deaf or hard of hearing children visit TSD. There are workshops and activities for children. The school year had already ended before the FWR event.
KXAN said they reached out to TSD with a list of questions, including whether the gun was loaded, but that a TSD spokesperson “refused to comment and instead forwarded them a letter sent to parents,
KXAN provided a link to the letter, which had an ASL version in a linked video. The letter said the family retreat team member who discovered the gun contacted a TSD staff member, who removed the diaper bag from the area, gave it to the owner of the diaper bag, and told them to leave the campus.
Here is a clip of the ASL version of the letter.
[Video clip showing an ASL version of TSD Letter: “A responding TSD staff member arrived and assessed the scene. To minimize the risk to others, the diaper bag was immediately removed from the area since there were toddlers playing on the floor nearby. PLEASE NOTE that at no time was the gun removed from the bag. As such, a school wide lockdown was not activated. The owner of the diaper bag was then identified and told to leave campus. The owner and the family complied.” ]
KXAN said an anonymous person explained that a TSD staffer “drove around with the gun while attempting to locate and return the firearm to its owner, who was allowed to leave without an escort.”
The anonymous person told KXAN that “proper lockdown procedures” didn’t take place and that because there were no lockdown procedures, families, children, and staff members were put at risk.
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KXAN reached out to the Austin Police Department, who said school officials did not file a report with APD and that “school officials took care of the situation.”
KXAN said they requested a copy of the TSD lockdown policy but that TSD said “that information is confidential and is challenging the release of records with the Texas Attorney General’s office.”
There is no information on who the owner of the gun was, why they would leave a gun in a diaper bag, and whether the gun was loaded.
Online comments under an Austin Deaf community page said this situation shouldn’t be taken lightly, that the persons involved aren’t responsible gun owners, and that TSD should have triggered a lockdown.