Parkland Teacher Arrested for Forgetting Loaded Gun in Public Restroom

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High teacher Sean Simpson was arrested after police say he left a loaded gun in a public restroom and a homeless man found it and fired it, the SunSentinel is reporting.

Simpson told deputies from the Broward Sheriff’s Office he had left his Glock 9 mm in a stall at a restroom at the Deerfield Beach Pier in South Florida. He remembered about five minutes later and walked back to retrieve it when he heard a shot from a gun.

Simpson said he snatched the gun from Joseph Spataro, a 69-year-old man the newspaper described as homeless.

Simpson, who has a valid concealed weapons permit, was charged with failing to safely store a firearm, according to the Sentinel. Spataro was charged with trespassing and firing a weapon while intoxicated, the newspaper said.

No one was injured in the incident.

Douglas High in Parkland, Florida, was the scene of 17 shooting deaths in February when a lone gunman opened fire. Simpson works as a chemistry teacher at the school.

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