MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio – An Ohio mother faces charges after she allegedly pulled a gun in a middle school parking lot, WJW learned on Friday.
Police said Mary Thomas was charged with inducing panic, inciting to violence, aggravated menacing, contributing to the delinquency or unruliness of a child, and falsification.
The incident happened last week outside Milkovich Middle School in Maple Heights, a city roughly 10 miles southeast of Cleveland.
Thomas has a 12-year-old daughter at the school. Other parents said the girl got into a fight with another female student. The next day, Thomas came to pick up her child and pulled the gun, according to other parents. They said Thomas’ daughter later went on social media and a gun could be seen in the picture.
"They seen her reaching into her purse. She pulled it out. And they're like, ‘She got a gun, she got a gun,'" the mother of one child there said.
"She pulled it out of her purse and started cocking it," another parent told WJW.
A woman inside Mary Thomas' home wouldn’t come to the door, but did yell from inside, "There wasn't no gun at the school."
Maple Heights police said Thomas has a permit to carry a gun, but they say she’ll have to answer to charges next week.
Meantime, records show Thomas also told police she was hit with mace in that school parking lot. The older sister of another girl said she pulled out the mace after Thomas showed the gun.
Maple Heights City Schools Superintendent Charlie Keenan released a statement:
“Last Wednesday afternoon an allegation was made that a parent had a weapon in her car at dismissal at Milkovich Middle School. Due to the seriousness of this allegation, our administration immediately notified the Maple Heights Police Department who began an investigation. The parent was notified that same afternoon by the school administration, the director of security and the police department that she is not permitted on school property until this situation is fully investigated and resolved. We have worked with the MHPD to provide all evidence related to the situation and as of now the incident is still an active case with the MHPD.”
