California teacher "accidentally" fires handgun during class

SEASIDE, Calif. (KSBW/NBC News) – Three California high school students are recovering after being struck by bullet fragments in class.

The injuries occurred when a teacher who also serves as a reserve police officer accidentally fired a gun inside a Seaside High School classroom Tuesday, police said.

Dennis Alexander was teaching a course about gun safety for his Administration of Justice class when his gun went off at 1:20 p.m.

A news release from the Seaside Police Department said no one suffered “serious injuries.”

One 17-year-old boy suffered moderate injuries when fragments from the bullet ricocheted off the ceiling and lodged into his neck.

The teacher had just told the class that he wanted to make sure his gun wasn’t loaded, when the gun fired, according to Fermin Gonzales, IV, the injured boy’s father.

Everyone in the classroom was stunned, and the teacher, who is a reserve officer for the Sand City Police Department, apologized.

But no one at the school checked to make sure that all of the students were uninjured, Gonzales said. The school day resumed as normal, and Seaside Police Department officers launched an investigation.

The 17-year-old boy’s parents were shocked when he returned home with blood on his shirt and bullet fragments in his neck. The student’s parents rushed him to a hospital for X-rays.