ROWAN COUNTY., N.C.,None — Parents of students at a local middle school are outraged that an assistant football coach is out of jail after being charged with assaulting a student, and having a gun on campus.
Jared Gallagher, 40, is an ISS teacher and assistant football coach at Corriher-Lipe Middle School in Landis.
"It seemed like he just snapped," said Rowan County Sheriff's Capt. John Sifford. Deputies told Eyewitness News that the attack happened as football practice ended Thursday afternoon.
The team was walking to the lockers, and Gallagher called over a seventh-grade player, Sifford said.
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"He thought he was going to get some kind of pep talk, and the coach grabbed him and started assaulting him," Sifford said.
According to eyewitnesses, it only escalated from there.
Another coach stepped in and tried to call 911, but deputies said Gallagher twisted his arm behind his back to keep him from calling. A parent also got involved and tried to defuse the situation.
When deputies arrived, Gallagher would not follow their commands and was aggressive toward officers.
He was shot in the chest with a Taser, but it had no effect, and he pulled the Taser probes out. He was shot a second time, and then a third when an officer approached him and used the Taser directly on his body to bring him down.
"He looked crazy. He just looked like a crazy man," said parent Brian Johnson. Johnson's son is on the Corriher-Lipe football team, and he walked up to the field in time to see Gallagher on the ground surrounded by officers.
Other eyewitnesses said Gallagher was laughing and acting strangely.
School officials told officers they wanted to make sure Gallagher did not have keys to the school. When they went to his pickup truck, they found a 9mm handgun, and 79 rounds of ammunition inside.
Parents like Donna Montgomery are angry that the school didn't notify families Thursday night about what happened. She saw it first on an Internet news website.
"He had a gun in his car. What would stop him from coming back with an AK-47 and lighting up the school when those kids get out," Montgomery said.
The weapons charge and assault charges Gallagher faces are all misdemeanors, and he's out of jail on a $5,000 bond. Parents told Eyewitness News they're livid about that.
"I don't know what the magistrate was thinking, I honestly don't," Montgomery said.
"They should push those charges up to a felony so kids don't have to be afraid, and parents don't have to be afraid," Johnson said.
Captain Sifford said Rowan County deputies charged Gallagher with what North Carolina law allows them to. Channel 9 could not reach the magistrate who handled the case for comment late Friday.
The Rowan County School District sent out an automated phone message to parents on Friday explaining the situation, and a letter went home with all students.
Increased security concerns led the district to post extra police officers on campus Friday evening, and they'll be there Saturday morning for athletic practices.
Gallagher has been suspended without pay during the investigation.
Eyewitness News learned he's been employed with Rowan County schools since 2009.