An angry Indiana mother faces multiple charges after she was accused of taking a gun to her sixth grade daughter’s elementary school and threatening her lesbian teacher to “kiss ur kids goodbye” after she gave an assignment about flags, officials said Tuesday.
Carrie Rivers, 48, was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm on school property and harassment in connection with the incident at Valley Mills Elementary School in Indianapolis.
Rivers threatened her daughter’s teacher over “a work assignment that had to do with same-sexuality relationships,” an affidavit supporting the woman’s arrest said.
Decatur Township school police officers answered a call last Wednesday about an “irate parent” on campus. When they arrived, officers noticed Rivers had something on her waistband that looked like a firearm, the affidavit says.
“Carrie Rivers stated that she did have a gun as I was removing it from her person,” responding officer Tabetha Emenaker wrote in the affidavit. “I advised Carrie Rivers on the law in regard to having a firearm on school premises and that it was an arrestable offense. She understood and stated that she didn’t even realize that she had it on because she is so used to wearing it and has been on school property with it before.”
Rivers then said she was taking her daughter out of Valley Mills Elementary and opting for home-schooling, police said. She also called her daughter’s teacher a slur disparaging to lesbians, the affidavit says.
Police let Rivers go, but then she sent a threatening message to her daughter’s teacher 25 minutes later, the affidavit says.
Rivers told the teacher that “god will condemn you to hell” and that “your a child predator,” the affidavit says.
Rivers is accused of telling the teacher to “say ur prayers and kiss ur kids goodbye and goodnight u never know when god says its our time so be prepared.”
The teacher, who keeps a picture of her wife and daughter on her desk, told police she “gave an assignment to the whole class with the subject matter of flags.” When she was giving examples of country flags, she also referred to the rainbow flag in the classroom with the words “be kind” on it, the affidavit said.
Rivers told the teacher she disagreed with an assignment, accusing her of “trying to push her personal agenda in regard to sexuality on her daughter,” according to the affidavit. The teacher said she allowed Rivers’ daughter to skip the assignment.
Still, in another message Rivers is accused of sending to the teacher, she called her a child predator who tells “precious innocent kids that it’s ok to be in same sex relationships,” according to the affidavit.
Rivers told NBC News on Wednesday she carries her gun everywhere, all the time, and insisted she forgot to leave it in the car.
But she didn’t deny sending multiple messages to the teacher after she left campus that day.
“I’m upset over the fact that the teacher keeps trying to push her personal beliefs on my child, and when my child declines her beliefs, she treats her unfairly,” Rivers told NBC News.
“We don’t believe in that. I don’t condone it. I don’t care what she does at her house. She ain’t gotta bring that to my student or push that upon my student.”
Rivers will not be allowed on campus again, according to the Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township.
“No threats were made against students or staff at that time. The police suspected that the parent had possession of a concealed handgun on her person and escorted her out of the building. At that point, they took possession of the weapon from the parent without incident outside the school. The parent stated that she forgot to remove the handgun before arriving on school property,” the district said in a statement.
“After the incident, it came to our attention that the parent then sent harassing and threatening messages to her child’s teacher. A warrant was filed for her arrest, and she is not permitted on any Decatur Township school property. We are committed to ensuring a safe learning environment for students and staff, and are grateful for the quick action of the office staff and school police in handling the situation safely.”
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