An elementary school teacher accused of assaulting a fifth-grade student appears to have a troubled past, and school officials are struggling to explain how they let him into a classroom in the first place.
Fifth-grader Gavyn Dabbs said his science teacher, 24-year-old Rayburn McGuire, punched him in the chest, yanked him by the collar and pushed him to the floor at Seaborn Lee Elementary School in Fulton, Ga., last week, according to CBS Atlanta.
When Gavyn's mother, Christina Dabbs, Googled her son's teacher, she found a news story describing how McGuire had shot his cousin in the stomach after a funeral in February, the local station points out.
Police said the dispute between the two cousins occurred at a family gathering over the volume of music being played, the Associated Press reported at the time. The East Point, Ga., resident was charged with aggravated assault, battery and possession of a firearm after the shooting, records indicate.
McGuire has been placed on administrative leave while the Fulton County School System conducts an employee investigation, school district spokeswoman Samantha Evans told The Huffington Post Friday.
"This is not something we would ever tolerate in our district if it was the case [that he had shot someone]," Evans said. "Nor do we tolerate harming students."
School district spokeswoman Susan Hale told CBS Atlanta that McGuire's arrest didn't show when he was vetted for the science teacher job, because the charges against him were dropped.
HuffPost placed calls to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office and the State Court of Fulton County to inquire about the charges, but requests for comment were not immediately returned.