Today's "What the #$% were they thinking...."

[Guest db99wj]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267043,00.html

CHURCH HILL, Tenn. — A mother of a kindergarten student was charged with assault Thursday and banned from a school after officials said she walked into a classroom, pointed a toy gun at students and pulled the trigger several times.

The incident happened Tuesday, a day after the shootings at Virginia Tech, and scared teachers and students.

Church Hill police and Hawkins County school officials met with Heather Nicole Berg, 26, earlier Thursday before charging her with misdemeanor assault. She was already banned from Church Hill Elementary School for one year.

Berg had a "silver toy cap gun," police said.

"A staff member and several children initially thought the gun was real and were fearful," police chief Mark Johnson and detective Dustin Dean said in a press release.

Police said they could not release details of Berg's statement about why she had the gun at the school.

"Nevertheless, Berg's actions constituted a monumental lapse in judgment," the release said. "After completing the interview and consulting with the DA's office, we have charged Berg with assault. It is our contention that her actions caused others to 'reasonably fear imminent bodily injury."'

School officials said the woman and another small child went to her student's classroom to pay for an upcoming field trip, and the incident happened when the teacher turned around to log in the payment.

"The mom walked in toward the middle of the classroom, and the teacher heard this click, click, click, click -- like four to six times," school principal Jean Heise said. "A teacher's assistant witnessed her take a gun and point it directly toward four to five kids. With everything that's happened the last couple of days, she (the assistant) was just in shock."

She then left with the small child and took the gun with her.

Heise immediately called the police. Later, she apologized to the principal and said, "I didn't mean any harm," Heise said.

Berg was set to appear in Hawkins County General Sessions Court in Rogersville on April 30. If convicted, she could face up to a year in prison and a maximum fine of $2,500.

Church Hill is about nine miles west of Kingsport, along the Virginia border.

[Guest db99wj]

Ummm, tower? Whats going on up there?

[towerclimber37]

*sigh*

an idiot..I'm as suprised as you are!!!

she was apparently fooling around with one of her sons' friends in class or something like that..thats the word I hear.

Mars, have you heard anything else on it?

[Punisher84]

Oh my God...

[SkWaShDeM]

The sheer stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me.

[towerclimber37]

hah! SKWASH, I'm not amazed anymore..I'll believe it..

someone once said that the most Common element in the universe is NOT hydrogen, but stupidity.

I believe them!

[Guest jackdog]

You ....have....got...to....be.....kidding.

That defies stupidy. I would suggest that this is a person who may need to see a shrink. That is really scary

[molonlabetn]

Freaking Idiot...

I can't believe she is breeding!

[kckndrgn]

Just when you think heard of all the idiotic things people do, someone comes along and does something even more idiotic.

geesh, that is just nuts!!!

[Marswolf]

Mars, have you heard anything else on it?

It apparently was a toy cap gun. I seriously question whether any of the teachers seriously thought it was real. If they did, they shouldn't be teaching.

If this had happened when I was growing up, people would have thought it was cute of the woman to play with the kids. These days of the uptight soccer moms, it was just stupid to do this.

A little common sense from all parties to this would have been useful.

[Guest db99wj]

It apparently was a toy cap gun. I seriously question whether any of the teachers seriously thought it was real. If they did, they shouldn't be teaching.

If this had happened when I was growing up, people would have thought it was cute of the woman to play with the kids. These days of the uptight soccer moms, it was just stupid to do this.

A little common sense from all parties to this would have been useful.

Yep, serious lack of common sense came into play here.

[Guest GlocKingTN]

Poster child for IDIOTS!

[jgrauman]

i'm wondering if she was trying to prove a point here, how easy it was for her to bring a gun into the school and shoot it without anybody being able to do anything. just curious if that's what's going to come out in court.

[Guest GlocKingTN]

Did I miss something? What was her purpose for bringing it in the class room to begin with?

[Marswolf]

I guess my feeling is that they should have toy guns in the kindergarten class for kids to play with. We did when I was in kindergarten.

I'm guessing that the woman had it in her purse for her kids to play with and keep them occupied in the car or something.

We have gotten so persnickety about so many things in our society that wouldn't have been given a second thought a few years ago. I think far too much has been made of this. This wasn't a real-looking gun. It was a toy cap pistol.

Yes, the woman was stupid because as a society we have thrown common sense out the window. I'd have know not to do that, not because it's wrong but because of the times we live in.

I'd have let her go with a warning.

[Punisher84]

Marswolf,

I remember in first grade bringing a really nice cap gun my dad bought me in for show and tell. Nobody seemed to care back then. Strange times.

[Donnie]

Charging her with assault is just stupid. They should have gotten her to the side and told her that it was inappropriate after what just happened, but charging her with assault is wrong. She probably shouldn't have done it, but playing around with a toy gun with children shouldn't get you arrested.

People are too uptight anymore. I play around with my son outside with airsoft guns, I just hope one of my neighbors trys something like this on me.