Teacher threatens to ‘shoot up’ preschool, police say

By Daniel Smithson

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    NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — 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., Metro officers on MNPD’s Rapid School Safety Team were dispatched to The Academy of McCrory Lane on Newsom Station Road to a report that a teacher had made a threat toward a colleague and students. When officers arrived, they 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. Staff told police Cowart, 29, threatened to “shoot up” the preschool and that she keeps a gun “on her.”

One teacher stated 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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