Gov. Lee commends Memphis Jewish school for response to shooting
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — Tennessee Governor Bill Lee along with his wife and U.S. Congressman David Kustoff visited Margolin Hebrew Academy in Memphis Monday.
Images of investigators converging on Margolin Hebrew Academy in July left many in shock after shots were fired outside the heavily protected school.
No one was injured and the accused gunman is facing charges.
Jewish school shooting suspect charged with attempted second-degree murder
Monday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and United States Congressman David Kustoff visited students and staff at the small Jewish school to discuss support following the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel war and commend the school for its response to the shooting.
“The security measures around this school, I’m proud that our leadership and staff, your staff, on July 31 was able to prevent what could’ve been a tremendous tragedy,” Kustoff said.
Congressman Kustoff cited the prevention came with the help of federal and state funding through the nonprofit security grant program.
“That’s firsthand, personal stories that I can take back to my colleagues in Washington and say, ‘You know what? This works. and it’s money well spent,'” he said.
The case of a Memphis man charged with trying to enter a Jewish school with a gun is moving forward
Governor Lee weighed in as well.
“School safety initiatives work. They worked in this school and they’ll work in other schools across the state,” he said. “The ability for schools to improve their hardware, their fencing, their camera surveillance around their facilities, all of those things are apart of hardening a school but then school safety grant funding that allowed for armed SROs in schools, all of those initiatives are an attempt to make our schools safer.”
Lee expects expanding school safety to be an ongoing discussion.
“I think school safety and public safety in general is something that we won’t stop pursuing. And we won’t stop talking about them in my office or the general assembly,” he said.
The governor also said he plans to meet with Memphis Mayor-Elect Paul Young next week.
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