Teacher threatens to ‘shoot up’ preschool, police say

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV/Gray News) – A Nashville teacher threatened to pull a gun on another teacher and preschool students on Thursday, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department.

At about 11 a.m., officers on the department’s Rapid School Safety Team were dispatched to The Academy of McCrory Lane to a report that a teacher had made a threat toward a colleague and students. Officers were met with an employee in the parking lot, who said the school had been placed on lockdown after the alleged threat.

Sheneca Cowart was taken into custody, police said. The staff told police Cowart, 29, threatened to “shoot up” the preschool and that she keeps a gun “on her.”

One teacher said she overheard Cowart saying things such as, “When I start shooting, you better run,” police said.

Cowart initially denied this claim, police said. She told a teacher that she was going to shoot them in the “kneecaps because it would not kill them,” according to a police report. She also denied having a gun on her. Police said they later found a gun in her purse and in her car.

Cowart was charged with threatening mass violence at a school, two counts of carrying a gun onto school property and one count of assault.

She’s being held on a $37,000 bond.

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