The man who shot and killed two women and wounded five others at Tallahassee, Florida, yoga studio before killing himself was once a teacher for the Volusia County School District.
On Monday, the Volusia County School District said the gunman, 40-year-old Scott Paul Beierle, had worked for the district just five months before Friday's shooting.
WFTV requested Beierle's personnel file from the district and learned he was a substitute teacher from April 2017 to May 2018. During that time, Beierle filled in at 21 different elementary, middle and high schools.
The district says Beierle passed a federal and state criminal background check. Police reports show Beierle was arrested and charged with battery after allegedly groping women at least twice. The charges were later dropped, so there were no convictions to show up on the background checks.
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Beierle's file also says he was fired after subbing at Galaxy Middle School in May for unprofessional conduct. The complaint says he asked a female student if she was ticklish, then proceeded to touch her on the stomach below the bra line.
On Monday, the school district said Beierle taught at the following schools:
- Southwestern Middle School
- Starke Elementary
- River Springs Middle School
- Deltona Middle School
- Deltona High School
- Pine Ridge Middle School
- Heritage Middle School
- Friendship Elementary School
- Galaxy Middle School
- Woodward Avenue Elementary
- Forest Lake Elementary
- David C. Henson Sr. Middle School
- University High School
- Orange City Elementary School
- Discovery Elementary
- Mainland High School
- Atlantic High School
- Sugar Mill Elementary
- Champion Elementary
- Westside Elementary
- Chisolm Elementary
The year before going to the Volusia County School District, officials with Leon County Schools said Beierle was fired from his substitute teaching job in Leon County after looking at porn during class.
The district said Beierle claimed he was looking at a football site when the computer froze, but a computer history search confirmed he was looking at porn. He was fired.
Prior to that, when he came in to apply for a substitute positions, several employees raised concerns about Beierle, school records show. Employees said he was acting extremely nervous, was rude, and had a “scary and angry” look on his face. They were so afraid they locked the doors when he left. They also suggested he not be hired after learning his password for application was “carnifex,” which means executioner. The district still hired him to sub.
The Friday evening shooting at a busy upscale shopping plaza jolted the state capital. Police said they were still searching for a motive that led to the deaths of a Florida State University student and a well-known local doctor who was a member of the school faculty.
Details about Beierle began to emerge in the hours after the shooting, including that he had once been banned from FSU's campus and had been previously accused of grabbing women, even though the charges were ultimately dropped.
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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