A Michigan educator was suspended after allegedly telling his classroom, in graphic detail, how he would have better carried out the shooting at Oxford High School two hours away from their classroom in Hopkins.
Robert Wiersema has been placed on administrative leave after students complained he insensitively laid out a plan for better attack on the school in the class—while using a slur—and talking about how he would have carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks differently as well.
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According to emails sent by parents, Wiersema said "if he was going to shoot kids he would pull the fire alarm and send everyone to the cafeteria or football field and shoot them in the head at once."
"He also shared that he carries a gun with him and keeps it in his car every day," said Hopkins School Board member Jessica Johnson.
"This is very concerning to me and I was appalled to hear this and I can't imagine how the students feel after hearing this."
In addition, the teacher shared disturbing details about how he would have interfered with the emergency response teams at the World Trade Center following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
According to an email from a student to Hopkins High School Principal Ken Szczepanski, Wiersema said he would have "done something to the water aqueducts" to prevent firefighting in the aftermath of the attacks.
Wiersema responded to the allegations via email, saying he was shocked and in distress about the allegations.
"I would consider myself to be one of the last people to possibly be a threat to the students," he wrote.
He also denied carrying a firearm or in any way suggesting he would carry out the attacks or in the methodology he described, saying he just wanted students to be "aware of their surroundings."
Szczepanski, however, found evidence Wiersema was regularly using "terrorist" as a racial slur.
In a Jeopardy!-style review uncovered by the principal, he found a clue that referred to a "scraggly bearded weirdo who wants to change the way things are by, and usually does so by hijacking, bombing, sniping, and other forms of mayhem."
Wiersema's case is undergoing a criminal investigation by the Allegan County District Attorney's Office, though no charges have been filed yet.
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