A Virginia high school art teacher has been arrested after a loaded handgun was discovered in the parking lot of a middle school, leading to the closure of all schools in the district Monday, police said.
Veronica Gooch-Ray, of Potomac Falls, was taken into custody Monday in connection with the firearm found at Manassas Park Middle School in Manassas Park, Virginia. She faces a charge of possessing a firearm on school property, according to the Manassas Park Police Department.
The gun was discovered around 6:30 a.m. by a school transportation employee during morning safety checks. The loaded handgun was lying on the ground between two school district vans in the middle school parking lot, officials said.
School officials notified police immediately after the discovery. Manassas Park City Schools then closed all schools for the day to allow officers to search the area and investigate how the weapon ended up on school grounds.
The district said it was not aware of any threat connected to the firearm and thanked the employee for reporting it. Manassas Park City Schools serves about 3,500 students across four schools.
Police said the investigation found no threat to the schools or the wider community. Authorities did not release details about how the handgun came to be in the parking lot or explain the circumstances that led investigators to identify Gooch-Ray.
The police department praised the transportation employee for quickly reporting the weapon and said the investigation remains active. No further information was immediately released.