Manuael Ernest Dillow, Virginia High School Teacher, Arrested For Lining Up Students, Firing Blank Gun Shots

Manuael Ernest Dillow, a Virginia high school teacher, has been arrested for allegedly shooting a blank gun at his students during class earlier this month. He faces 12 felony charges of brandishing a firearm on school property.

"One for each student who was in there. And basically the charges result of inciting fear into the students," Washington County Virginia Sheriff Fred Newman told WCYB. None of the students were hurt.

The incident reportedly occurred April 4 at William H. Neff Center, a vocational high school in Abingdon, Va. On that day, The 60-year-old Dillow gathered the dozen students in his welding class, lined them up near a garage door in the welding shop and from the waistband of his pants, produced a "blank firing handgun" and fired four to 10 shots in the students' direction, the Kingsport Times News reports.

Dillow had borrowed the firearm from a teacher in a separate department, and Washington County Virginia Public Schools Superintendent Jim Sullivan confirmed to WCYB that the gun is a teaching aid for a criminal justice class at the school.

Dillow has temporarily been removed from the classroom, and his future at the school is undecided. The motives behind his actions are also at the center of the police investigation, WTVR reports.

Dillow was released on a $20,000 unsecured bond with a scheduled May 7 hearing date.

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Comments

[Scotlandsgirl]

12:54 AM on 05/22/2012

Another bufoon out of Virginia.

[FlyboyDave]

11:24 PM on 05/21/2012

The guy with the blank gun may not be that hard to defend if he was charged with "unlawfully brandishing a firearm". The reason is that a blank gun is not by definition legally a firearm, any more than extending a clenched hand with an extend index finger is a "hand gun".

If it can't fire actual projectiles that are propelled by an explosive charge, it's not a firearm.

[Davidc Smith]

02:35 PM on 04/25/2012

What a bozoo!! Anyone that stupid probably ought to sit in jail, if for no other reason than being that stupid....and where were those babes (lady teachers) when I was in school? Oh to have been so victumized!

[BumpyKnight]

01:17 PM on 04/25/2012

Another frightened American. Is there anything we can do for them? Please don't tell me he crapped his pants to avoid the draft.

[montanasian]

09:59 PM on 04/24/2012

Students cant bring nail clippers, aspirin, army men, and not even a bible without getting suspended or expelled. Yet again, time after time after time we read stories of teachers getting off lightly, transfered to another school, or nothing happening to them. A student farts the wrong type of meal the parents get charged for hazardous waste disposal.

[Telemachus]

06:45 PM on 04/24/2012

Another future Tea Party candidate.

[dimplasm]

06:40 PM on 04/24/2012

I'm guessing he never hear of Brandon Lee or Jon-Erik Hexum.

[FlyboyDave]

11:27 PM on 05/21/2012

Neither of which used blank guns. They both used real guns that were loaded with blanks. There's a HUGE difference. A starter's pistol for a track meet is a blank gun - it's not possible to load actual blanks into it, which are basically undercharged real ammo with no projectile.

[FlyboyDave]

11:28 PM on 05/21/2012

Oh - and not at all excusing what he did. Just trying to maintain accuracy.

[Leon Holston Sr]

02:41 PM on 04/24/2012

maybe he thought he was a drill sgt.in the military rather than a teacher of young people.

[dimplasm]

06:35 PM on 04/24/2012

Drill sergeants can't line up subordinates and shoot at them. At least they couldn't when I was in. This guy is a nut.

[Leon Holston Sr]

09:01 AM on 04/25/2012

ACCEPTED.

[Soldier79]

12:15 AM on 04/25/2012

my drill sgt. never fired at me while I was in basic.

[The Mad Guesser]

12:41 PM on 04/24/2012

Back when I taught school where students battled in shop class with hammers against blow torches, their lives depended on teaching them civility, even though many students wanted to become lawyers. But we never did shootings with blanks. Instead, we'd waive weapons in random directions with glazed looks in our eyes. That teacher didn't read the famous unwritten manual because we'd never do that shooting incident without paying other students to pretend to be shot with fake blood while extracting promises from other students not to point their blow torches at the crotch or eyeballs of their foes, and no rabbit punches either. If we don't show these little nippers that God is not mocked, parents will demand firings when Johnny comes home with a missing eye.

[RationalCaliGirl]

10:10 PM on 04/23/2012

What a freak!

[salesdude]

08:21 PM on 04/23/2012

"Dillow has [temporarily] been removed from the classroom, and his future at the school is [undecided.]"

Two words stand out here, "temporarily and undecided"

It begs the question, REALLY?

In what world [or state does a teacher do this and is "temporarily" removed and then their fate is "undecided"?

[Telemachus]

06:46 PM on 04/24/2012

I see a bright future for him as the police chief of Sanford, Florida.

[salesdude]

11:56 PM on 04/24/2012

Or at the very least a neighborhood watch captain...

[CA Maestro]

12:03 PM on 04/25/2012

The very mention of these words is cautionary on the part of the district - they are protecting themselves from legal backlash. People assume that the words 'temporary' and 'undecided' mean that he *might* come back to the classroom, and that the school *really* doesn't know what to do with him. Not the case.
You might as well apply those words to a serial killer, who gets caught with weapons, blood stains and body parts in his home, shallow graves out in the back yard. Everyone knows how that is going to play out - but legally he gets put "temporarily" in prison, and his fate remains officially "undecided" until his trial.

[salesdude]

12:25 PM on 04/25/2012

OK, I'll take your word for it, but forgive me if I am a little skeptical because it is the state of Virginia for gawds sake, and stranger things have happened there that have gone unpunished.

[Chigirl60]

08:14 PM on 04/23/2012

After a while, the teachers really start to hate their students. I'll bet this guy still gets his pension.

[MaryfromIL]

02:25 PM on 04/25/2012

In the private sector, no one loses the pensions they accrued for criminal acts later. Why would you expect this in the public sector?

[Chigirl60]

09:01 AM on 04/26/2012

Because that is how it works in the public sector. He was at work.

[Tony Rochon]

08:04 PM on 04/23/2012

Earlier this month? Like April 1st? He probably thought it was a hilarious April Fools prank.

Talk about a severe lack of judgment.

[LBarRel]

07:51 PM on 04/23/2012

Great, another example of the unbalanced, out of touch, not wrapped too tight.

[strangerallthetime]

05:28 PM on 04/23/2012

We locked the chemistry teacher in the chemicals vault for a whole weekend for Senior Prank.Turns out, she was claustrophobic.And we really didn't think about it being 48 hrs, with no bathroom (obviously) Seemed like a good idea at the time. Trauma and school just seem to go together. Just sayin.......

[Telemachus]

06:47 PM on 04/24/2012

You're lucky she didn't mix up some thermite and burn your car in half out in the parking lot.