Yesterday, I wrote about the incident at Forest View Educational Center in Arlington Heights, Illinois, where a school resource officer somehow left a gun behind in a school bathroom, forcing classes to be canceled while police searched the building. At the time, it sounded like the usual mix of carelessness and chaos. A firearm goes missing, the school shuts down, and everyone scrambles to clean up a mess that never should have happened.

Now there’s an update, and it doesn’t exactly make things better.

Police say they have a person of interest in custody. That sounds reassuring for about five seconds, right up until you get to the part that actually matters. The gun is still missing. It hasn’t been recovered, and it wasn’t in the school. Wherever it ended up, it’s out there somewhere, which means this didn’t just disrupt a school day. It potentially put a weapon into circulation beyond campus.

According to authorities, the officer removed the firearm while using the restroom just before dismissal. At some point between his ass hitting the seat and the final flush, the gun was left unattended long enough for someone else to allegedly take it. That’s a basic failure at the exact moment when basic competence matters most.

Officials have described the situation as “unfortunate and embarrassing,” which is one way to put it. Forgetting your lunch is unfortunate. Sending an email about your boss to your boss is embarrassing. Leaving a gun unsecured in a school bathroom so it can walk out the door is something else entirely. There’s a word for that, and that word is dangerous.

School officials say it’s safe to reopen and there will be an increased police presence, which is meant to reassure families. It also means that after canceling classes, bringing in K-9 units, and combing through surveillance footage, the supposed solution is essentially more police in a building where a cop already lost control of his gun. That’s not exactly a confidence booster.

So here we are. A person of interest is in custody, the investigation is ongoing, and the gun is still out there. All of this started because a trained officer, in the span of dropping the kids off at the pool, failed to keep track of a loaded gun. Yesterday’s story was about a gun left in a school bathroom. Today’s story is about that same gun still being out there among the public and the people responsible calling it “embarrassing” instead of what it actually is. Dumb and dangerous.

(Sources)

• Person of interest in custody after officer’s gun stolen at suburban Chicago school, officials say
• Person of interest in custody in connection to school resource officer’s missing gun