Texas school backs off allegations that mom threatened 7th grade volleyball team with gun

Texas mom says she waved finger, not gun, at team

SAN ANTONIO — A Texas mother who witnesses said pulled a gun on a seventh-grade volleyball team that badly beat her daughter’s team told police she merely waved her finger and never threatened the children, officials said Friday.

The Judson school district initially said witnesses reported that an angry mother brandished a gun at middle school students as they celebrated a lopsided win over her daughter’s team. But a search of the woman’s house turned up no gun, and the district acknowledged inconsistencies in the witnesses’ allegations.

“The parent said she did have an altercation but did not use a gun,” district spokesman James Keith said. “We also re-interviewed witnesses, and some inconsistencies in the story are starting to pop up.”

Keith said the parent would likely face no criminal charges but will be barred from stepping on school district property for the next year. The school district is in northeast San Antonio.

The saga began Thursday night after Kirby Middle School’s seventh-grade volleyball team soundly beat Metzger Middle School. Keith said witnesses told officials that the woman, a mother of a Metzger player, was irate during the match and approached the Kirby players as they were leaving the gym.

School officials on Friday originally said the mother was seen waving a gun at the players and threatening to kill them. But by Friday afternoon, what actually happened after the game was less clear.

Police for the district are still investigating but were unable to determine from surveillance video whether the woman had a gun, said Keith, adding that he couldn’t speculate why inconsistencies in the original witness statements later emerged.

There were at least six witnesses, he said.

“Witnesses say she said she was going to kill them,” Keith said. “She says she just told them, ‘We’re going to get you next time.’”