Teacher Dawn Perry shot and kidnapped college basketball player

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A Wake County teacher faces assault and kidnapping charges in a shooting incident.

Dawn Perry, 45, is charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and first-degree kidnapping.

The incident began Jan. 18 at N.C. Wesleyan College, where 18-year-old Jessica Perry is a basketball player. Dawn Perry waited for Jessica Perry in a parking lot where the two women had an argument.

Authorities don't know what the dispute was about, and said as far as they know the two are not related. But Dawn Perry had previously coached Jessica Perry, and the younger woman thought of her as a godmother.

Perry asked Jessica to take her to Louisburg. The younger woman refused and got in her car, but was then persuaded to let Dawn in.

Dawn pulled a firearm and pointed it at Jessica and told her to drive. Jessica began driving erratically and speeding, trying to get pulled over but Dawn told her to drive normally. Dawn began fumbling with the weapon and pulling the clip in and out when the gun went off, hitting Jessica in the leg.

Dawn then drove Jessica to a hospital. Authorities described the gunshot wound as relatively minor, and said she's been released from the hospital.

A Wake schools spokesman said the teacher has been suspended with pay pending the completion of a human resources investigation. Perry has worked for Wake since August 2007, and is a teacher at Longview School, an alternative school in Raleigh. She hasn't been at work since last week's incident.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/edu...y/1385430.html

[sanityslipping]

Wonder what it was about

[Sister Iroz]

Raleigh, N.C. — Wake County school officials have suspended a Longview School teacher accused of shooting a North Carolina Wesleyan College women's basketball player during a kidnapping attempt last week.

Greg Thomas, a Wake County Public School System spokesman said Wednesday that Dawn Perry, 44, was suspended with pay following the Jan. 18 incident, which began in a parking lot at the college.

Nash County Sheriff Dick Jenkins said Perry, of 659 Hodges Road, Franklinton, had driven to the school in Rocky Mount to see Jessica Perry, 18, a freshman player on the N.C. Wesleyan team.

At some point, the two argued, and Dawn Perry allegedly pressed a gun into Jessica Perry's side and forced her into her car and drove off.

Jenkins said Dawn Perry told investigators she was fumbling with the gun when it went off, shooting Jessica Perry in the leg. Dawn Perry then drove her to the hospital, where she was treated for injuries and later released.

Investigators said they are not sure what prompted the argument. The women are not related, but Jenkins said Jessica Perry told them the suspect is like a godmother to her.

Dawn Perry was charged with first-degree kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. She was out of jail Wednesday under a $40,000 bond.

Dawn Perry worked in the Franklin County Schools system for eight years and was a basketball coach at Terrell Lane Middle School in Louisburg while Jessica Perry played there, authorities said.

The Franklin Times reported Wednesday that while she worked for the school system, Dawn Perry was placed on administrative leave for a fight with a 16-year-old student.

She has been employed at Longview School, a special-needs middle and high school in Raleigh, since August 2007, the school system said.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4417291/