A Hillcrest High School teacher resigned this week, more than a month after he allegedly drew a concealed firearm and pointed it at his classroom door during a lockdown drill with 27 students inside. The 40-year-old health sciences teacher has not been arrested or charged, and the case now sits with prosecutors who will decide whether to pursue it further.
Canyons School District spokesman Jeff Haney confirmed the teacher resigned on Monday, according to KSL News. The resignation comes after the district placed him on paid administrative leave the day of the incident and barred him from returning to Hillcrest High pending an internal investigation. The school is located at 7350 S. 900 East in Midvale.
The episode unfolded on Sept. 30 during a scheduled lockdown drill, one of several safety exercises Canyons School District high schools are required to run each year, including four lockdown drills annually, per Deseret News. The drill required classroom doors to be locked while teachers and students sheltered inside. As administrators and Unified police officers moved through the building checking doors for compliance, the teacher allegedly pulled his concealed firearm — from either a cabinet or his holster, according to court documents cited by KSL — and pointed it at the door.
What Witnesses and Police Say Happened Inside the Room
A search warrant affidavit states the teacher pointed his weapon at administrators and police officers through the classroom door. Witness statements described him holding the weapon in his nondominant hand while kneeling behind a table, in view of the window. The same affidavit says he shouted, “This is not a communication device,” and that students inside the room were left questioning themselves after witnessing his behavior.
Police said the teacher told them afterward that he did not know a drill was planned that day, and that he could not describe what outside his classroom had suggested an imminent threat to him. The station’s report notes he holds a valid concealed weapons permit, a detail Haney addressed directly: teachers may carry a gun if they hold a valid permit. Haney also said faculty and students receive advance notice before drills take place — Hillcrest conducted the same type of lockdown drill the previous September.
District Response and Where the Case Stands
Canyons School District said it cooperated with the police investigation, including the service of a search warrant, and offered counseling services to the students who were in the classroom that day. Parents were notified on the day of the incident. Unified police have since forwarded the case to the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office for consideration, though as of Tuesday the teacher had not been arrested or charged.
The teacher had worked for Canyons School District since 2018. KSL is not naming him at this time. A 2023 newsletter from Hillcrest High School described a separate drill, Run, Hide, Fight, as a district-endorsed response to active inside threats, part of the broader safety framework the school uses alongside lockdown exercises. Canyons School District policy states that interactions between employees and students are expected to be professional and appropriate, though the district has not said whether that policy factored into its internal investigation.
