Details are current as of October 20, 2026, and may change as the case moves through court. We’ll update this post if officials release new findings.
On September 25, a 2-year-old at a Richmond child care center picked up a loaded gun. No one was hurt. Virginia state records made public this month describe what happened. I’m writing about it because nearly everything that went wrong that day is something a program controls, and almost none of it costs money to fix.
Here is what the record shows, what it asks of the rest of us, and six things you can do in your own program this month.
What happened
According to Virginia Department of Social Services records, as reported by Richmond news outlets, an administrator at a child care center in South Richmond brought a loaded gun to work on September 25 in an unzipped fanny pack and set it on a low stack of cots in a classroom, within the children’s reach. The report says the administrator regularly brought the gun to work and routinely left the fanny pack where children could get to it.
A 2-year-old took the gun from the bag and walked to a table where five other children were sitting on the floor. The child set the gun down and then picked it up again. Inspectors say about 15 seconds passed before a staff member noticed, jumped up, and took it away. About 30 seconds before the child picked up the gun, according to the report, the administrator and another staff member were looking down at their phones, and a third adult had their back turned while putting socks on another child.
The center reported the incident to the state on September 29, four days later. The rule is 24 hours. The administrator was arrested October 7 and charged with possessing a firearm at a school and reckless handling of a firearm, with a court date set for December 15. Charges are allegations until proven in court. The center opened in March under a provisional license; state officials say it has been closed since October 1 while administrative proceedings continue. An October 8 inspection found other violations, including children left unsupervised. Its plan of correction commits to “Zero Tolerance” for firearms or other weapons on the property, to retraining all staff on mandated reporting, and to posting reporting information in every classroom.
The danger came in with an adult
Last month we wrote about Canton Township, Michigan, where a teacher at a child care center watched a toddler pull a loaded handgun from a backpack and took it from the child. In Canton, the gun arrived in a backpack. In Richmond, a trusted adult brought it in, day after day, until a child found it.
Three habits that cost nothing could have changed this story. The first is a clear firearms rule that applies to everyone, administrators included. The second is active supervision, with every adult positioned to see and reach the children in their care and phones put away.
The third is reporting. A four-day delay means the people responsible for children’s safety, from licensing staff to families, learn about a serious incident late. Every adult in a program should know what must be reported, to whom, and how fast.
Near Chicago: two coworkers who reported right away
A case outside child care shows what fast reporting can do. Authorities say that on Sunday, October 11, a car registered to a 19-year-old man entered the parking lot of the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple in Aurora, Illinois, during the Navaratri festival. Prosecutors say his rifle jammed as he tried to shoot a man from his car, and he told a coworker he would “retry.” Two coworkers, who had heard him say Sunday would be a “special day,” called 911. Police arrested him near his home in Palatine later that day and say a search turned up an AR-style rifle, loaded magazines, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. He is charged with making a terrorist threat and unlawfully possessing a rifle and is being held in detention. Charges are allegations until proven in court. No one was hurt.
Luck played a part when the rifle jammed. Then two coworkers chose to call 911 and tell police exactly what they had heard and seen. Deciding whether he meant it was left to police. That’s the right model for your program too. When someone hears a threat, receives a worrying message, or sees something that frightens them, their job is to report it right away and keep the evidence. Investigating belongs to law enforcement.
What your program can do this month
- Revisit your weapons policy. Start from your state’s licensing rules and local law, then state plainly who, if anyone, may bring a weapon onto the premises. Have every employee read and sign it, administrators included.
- Give personal bags a safe home. A gun is the extreme case, but an adult’s bag holds plenty of everyday things that aren’t meant for children: medications, hand sanitizer, lighters or vapes, coins and batteries small enough to swallow, and private things like wallets, keys, and phones. Agree on where staff keep purses, backpacks, and fanny packs during the day, closed and out of children’s reach, in a locked cabinet or staff-only space if you have one. Then check your classrooms at child height for anything else little hands could find.
- Recommit to active supervision. Talk through what it looks like, agree on where phones live during the day, and position adults so every child is within sight and reach.
- Post your reporting rules. Make sure every staff member knows what must be reported, to whom, and how fast, including your state’s licensing deadline. Post it in each classroom.
- Call when you hear a threat. In Aurora, two coworkers heard something alarming and called 911. If anyone on your team hears a threat, they should call 911 or your local police right away and tell them exactly what they heard. Deciding whether it was serious is law enforcement’s job. If a threat arrives as a text or post, take a screenshot, and don’t reply or delete it.
- Make speaking up safe. Tell your team that raising a safety concern is always welcome, whether it’s a bag left within reach, a colleague bending a rule, or something someone said. Then thank the first person who does, out loud.
A final word
In Richmond, the danger was ordinary and avoidable, and for 15 seconds no adult saw it. Near Chicago, two coworkers heard something alarming and picked up the phone. Each outcome turned on what people did, and that is something you can shape in your own program starting this week.
If you’d like help putting this into practice, that’s the work we do with early childhood programs every week: writing a clear weapons and personal-bags policy, training staff on supervision and reporting, and our Bees to the Beehive active threat training, built for programs that serve infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Tell us about your program, and we’ll follow up with what fits your team.
Want to go deeper on active supervision? At Head Start East 2027 in San Juan, Melvin J. Gravely is leading a full-day workshop on active supervision on Sunday, April 11. It’s built for every role in a program, from classroom staff to bus monitors and kitchen staff, with hands-on scenarios and practice speaking up about safety concerns. You can register for the workshop on its own ($385 per participant). See the workshop.
Don’t be scared. Be prepared.
Sources: WTVR (CBS 6) and 12 On Your Side (WWBT) on the Virginia Department of Social Services report; the Associated Press via KSAT and the Chicago Sun-Times on the Aurora case. Details are as reported as of October 20, 2026.