Molley Hudgens: Tennessee School Counselor Stops 14-Year-Old Gunman From Opening Fire At School

Tennessee counselor Molly Hudgens on Wednesday morning stopped a 14-year-old student who had planned “to kill some teachers and a police officer and not students,” CNN is reporting.

Hudgens, a counselor at Sycamore Middle School in Ashland City, Tennessee, said the young student came into her office with a gun and plenty on his mind. According to the counselor, the 45-minute talk she had with the student stopped him from going ahead with the chaos and carnage he had mapped out.

On Wednesday, a school counselor named Molly Hudgens at Sycamore Middle School in Ashland, Tennessee, talked a… https://t.co/1glnd2reQe

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When they started talking, Hudgens had asked the troubled teen if he was carrying a gun. The teen had showed her a weapon tucked in his waistband. He eventually gave the hand gun to her.

The young student was later arrested by a school officer. The boy was carrying a loaded semi-automatic pistol along with multiple rounds of ammunition. The weapon was a Taurus Millennium 45-caliber, a lightweight pistol with a polymer grip.

The teen has been charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds and threatening people on the premises. He is being held in a county jail, waiting for his next hearing.

Sheriff Mike Breedlove confirmed that all staffers and students were safe, adding that the danger was thwarted because of the bravery of the school counselor. Breedlove commended the training staff had received for handling critical situations like the one that just occurred.

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“She was an amazingly brave person to be in there that long with this young man. She was able to defuse the whole situation…she single-handedly saved the lives of many people…she’s a hero in our community.”

In a news conference Wednesday, the sheriff revealed that when Hudgens was talking with the troubled teen, she had tried to text school security discreetly to let them know what was going on, but could not get a signal in her office. According to Breedlove, the gun never left Hudgens’ office until officers arrived.

The sheriff refused to say how the student got the gun and the rationale behind the threats. He said investigations were still pending. The Sycamore Middle School and High School were placed on lock down on the day of the event. The school has a no nonsense policy for dangerous weapons on campus and penalties include expulsions of up to year for those found culpable.

Hudgens has a degree in English and Allied Language Arts coupled with a Master’s degree in School Counseling from the Western Kentucky University. She began teaching at the Sycamore Middle School in 1999 as a teacher in language arts and joined the counseling department in 2006.

In a Facebook post, the humble teacher turned all the attention from herself, preferring to laud fellow staff members and law enforcement officers for the stance they took during the incident.

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“Sycamore Middle School is safe, and our students will continue to be afforded that same hedge of protection that they received prior to this event. School resumed today as normal…we appreciate again all of the support from our community and look forward to the continuation of a great school year.”

In most school shootings, gunmen have unleashed terror without any warnings or without seeking the help of guidance counselors or family members. The same day that a shooting was prevented in Tennessee, a 14-year-old student killed his father before heading to a South Carolina school and opening fire.

The 14-year-old boy shot a teacher who tried to protect the students and two young pupils. Jacob Hall, one of the kids, was critically injured. He was hit in the femoral artery and later died from a massive blood loss on Saturday.

The young gunman had opened fire at the Townsville Elementary School around 1:45 pm after scaling a fence. He had shot all his victims at the school playground because teachers had barred the doors and prevented him from entering inside. The boy had killed his 47-year-old father before heading to the school.

[Featured Image by Karalon/iStock Images]