PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — WPTV learned more Wednesday about a School District of Palm Beach County employee who was injured in an accidental shooting during a training exercise at a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office gun range earlier in the week.
In a written statement, the school district said the employee "was participating in an annual firearms qualification related to Guardian certification."
The Chris Hixon, Coach Aaron Feis, and Coach Scott Beigel Guardian Program, which was created after the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in 2018, allows civilian school district employees to carry firearms on campus after they complete a rigorous training program.
The school district emphasized to WPTV that, at this time, "there are no active guardians assigned to District-operated schools."
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said the incident happened just after 9 a.m. Monday when a school district employee accidentally discharged a firearm and was shot in the hip area during a "civilian training exercise" at PBSO's gun range.
The victim was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The school district told WPTV on Wednesday the employee is in stable condition.
Here is the update released by the School District of Palm Beach County:
"The employee injured Monday was participating in an annual firearms qualification related to Guardian certification. The employee is stable.
There is at least one sworn police officer assigned to every District-operated school in Palm Beach County. At this time, there are no active guardians assigned to District-operated schools."
During a meeting between high-ranking school district officials and state lawmakers in November of last year, Superintendent Mike Burke said the district put two employees through the Guardian training with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office last summer.
While he called the training impressive, Burke said it was not something the school district would pursue at that time.
"We followed through with our commitment to pilot and go through the training, and that provided us more knowledge about the program," Burke said. "At this point, we've not deployed any guardians to our schools. That would take a lot more planning and also support from our school board, which we have not really brought that issue to them for any type of approval."
