Student on teacher who brought gun to school: ‘Whole school wants him back'

Heiss was not arrested because the incident happened on private property, and the school didn’t feel there was a threat to students or faculty.

Heiss was put on administrative leave but quickly resigned.

Students were back at school just a day after the gun incident at St. Joseph Academy.

One student told Action News Jax: “I was shocked. I was mostly shocked.” Another student said, “He’s a great teacher. We all loved him. One of my favorites. The whole school wants him back.”

Still another student said “It [the gun] doesn’t really make me nervous, because he was a good teacher at our school and we liked him. He was really nice.”

The gun was discovered after St. Johns County Sheriff’s deputies received a tip that led to the gun being found in a backpack belonging to Heiss.

Another student said: “Things happen to everyone. It’s really unfortunate that it had to happen to him.”

Heiss has a permit to carry his gun, but he broke the law — and school policies — by having it with him at school. Even with a Concealed Weapons Firearms License, weapons may not be carried concealed in a variety of places including, pursuant to Section 790.06(12)(a), Florida Statutes: “Any public or private preschool, elementary, or secondary school and their administrative buildings.”

Action News Jax went to the home of Grady Heiss to get his side of the story. No one answered, but one of his neighbors was surprised Heiss was out of a job.

Heiss worked at St. Joseph’s for 10 years, and officials say he had no previous issues.

Cox Media Group