Falmouth school monitor fired for carrying gun on school grounds during school shooter investigation

FALMOUTH, Mass. — Until recently, William Langmead was the School Safety Monitor at Falmouth’s Morse Pond School.

But the retired State Police Trooper lost his job because he carried a concealed weapon while investigating a possible school shooter.

“I believe what I did was 100 percent the right thing to do, given the circumstances,” Langmead said.

The incident happened on September 14.

Langmead said the suspect, who was on a scooter on school grounds, had what looked like a real handgun.

When the suspect took off, Langmead called police, and two people told him the suspect shot at them, with a pellet gun.

“At that point, I said exigent circumstances, I can’t guarantee the threat is over I chose to retrieve from my trunk, a properly stored firearm, 9mm. arm myself concealing, and I chose to protect the school,” Langmead said.

In Massachusetts, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon on school grounds.

Langmead says he told responding police he was armed.

Langmead was told to stay home the next day.

And this week, at a school committee meeting, the Superintendent announced his termination.

“Mr. Langmead during this event did not follow our safety monitor protocols,” Superintendent Dr. Lori Duerr said. “The role of safety monitor is to ensure that all students and staff are inside and the building is secure, meaning all doors are locked,” she added.

Falmouth Police Chief Jeffrey Lourie told the School Committee, “The Falmouth Police Department charged Mr. Langmead with possession of a firearm on school grounds because he removed his firearm from a secure location in his vehicle and continued to carry the weapon on the grounds and inside the school building, even after police arrived on scene.”

Those charges were ultimately dropped.

Langmead says he’d like to have his job back.

“I felt I needed to err on the side of caution, better to ask for forgiveness later than to fail to act and have a situation like the Texas shooting where people hesitated to go inside of the school,” Langmead said.

Boston 25 News reached out to the Falmouth Police Department and Superintendent Duerr’s office for further comment, but did not hear back.

As for Langmeade, he knows it’s not likely he’ll get his job back.

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