Crime

Swansea parents arraigned after second-grader allegedly brought gun to school

The Swansea couple each pleaded not guilty to a slew of firearm and child endangerment charges.

April 23, 2026 | 3:14 PM

2 minutes to read

Two Swansea parents accused of child endangerment and possessing firearms without valid licenses were arraigned Wednesday.

The couple, Christopher and Heather Spangler, appeared in Fall River District Court. They each pleaded not guilty to 13 charges, including reckless endangerment of a child, improperly storing a gun near a minor, and owning a gun without a Firearms Identification card, according to court documents.

The Spanglers were investigated after Swansea police received an anonymous tip earlier this month that a second-grade student may have brought a handgun to Mark G. Hoyle Elementary School and showed it to two other students.

Officers searched a home on Market Street, where they found five firearms: a Ruger .22-caliber handgun, a Beretta 9mm handgun, a Ruger .45-caliber handgun, a 12-gauge Savage Stevens shotgun, and a Marlin .22-caliber rifle, according to Swansea police. Four of these guns were loaded. Police also found various types of ammunition.

The weapons were unregistered and being stored improperly, police said. No one residing at the home had a valid FID card. Swansea police filed a report on the incident with the Department of Children and Families.

“This situation had the potential to end in a tragedy,” Chief Mark Foley said at the time.

The Spanglers were released on personal recognizance on the condition that they surrender all their firearms, according to court documents.

Swansea Superintendent Scott Holcomb addressed the matter in a community update, saying that school officials increased the “administrative presence” at Hoyle Elementary School.

“I have personally been on site at Hoyle to support school leadership and will continue to provide consistent district-level presence throughout the remainder of the school year as needed,” Holcomb said in a message on April 12.

Holcomb also said that the district was “reviewing, reinforcing, and practicing” safety protocols to make sure that they are “clearly understood and consistently implemented.”

In a separate message to families after the incident, Holcomb said that school officials became aware of the concerns over a weekend but did not report them to police until Monday. Swansea police said that they became aware of the report late on the night on Monday, April 6.

“We recognize that police should have been notified immediately once the report was received. The district will conduct a full review of the response to this situation to determine the procedures that should be strengthened and whether additional staff training or discipline is necessary,” Holcomb wrote to families earlier this month.