The state of Virginia has shut down a Richmond daycare after a Virginia Department of Social Services report concluded that a 2-year-old child pulled the director's loaded handgun out of an unzipped fanny pack, put the barrel in their mouth and carried it across a classroom — while the adults in the room were looking at their phones or had their backs turned, according to WAVY, WRIC and WTVR, which reviewed the report.
Thrive Learning Center East, a daycare and preschool on Cofer Road in South Richmond that takes children as young as 6 weeks old, has not operated since Oct. 1, WAVY reported. The Virginia Department of Education told WAVY the center will stay closed while administrative proceedings run, and the director, 66-year-old Martha Evans, is facing criminal charges, according to Richmond police. The child was not shot and was not physically hurt, and no gunshot was fired, according to the Department of Social Services report. What the report describes is a near-miss measured in seconds.
According to the Department of Social Services report, as WAVY and WRIC reported it, the incident happened on Sept. 25. Evans brought a loaded handgun to work in a fanny pack and left the pack unzipped on a low stack of cots in a classroom, about 31 inches off the floor, the report said. A 2-year-old in the class reached in, took the gun out and put it in their mouth, barrel first, according to the report. Still holding it there, the toddler walked to a table where five other children were sitting on the floor, set the gun down, and then picked it up again, the report said.
The whole sequence lasted about 15 seconds, according to the report. Evans and a second staff member were looking down at their phones, and a third staff member had their back to the child while putting socks on another child, the report said. When a staff member looked up and saw the toddler holding the gun, they “immediately jumped up from a seated position,” took it from the child and handed it to Evans, according to the report. The gun was then put in a lock box and removed from the building, WWBT reported.
Investigators say Sept. 25 was not an isolated lapse. According to the Department of Social Services, Evans had regularly brought the firearm to the center in the fanny pack for nearly four months, and the bag was routinely left where children could reach it, WAVY reported. The center had eight children enrolled, and three staff members were in the room that day, according to the report.
What happened next widened the case from one classroom to the center's whole operation. Virginia law required the center to report an incident like this to the Department of Social Services within 24 hours, but staff did not report it for four days, and the department was notified on Sept. 29, according to the report. Richmond police detectives joined a Child Protective Services investigation on Sept. 30, WAVY reported, and state education officials made a follow-up visit to the center the same day, according to the Virginia Department of Education.
Richmond police confirmed the arrest of Martha Evans in connection with the incident, WAVY reported. The Department of Social Services report does not name her, but the center's own website identifies Evans as its co-owner and director, according to WAVY. WAVY reported that Evans was charged with possession of a firearm at a child daycare center and reckless storage of a firearm. WTVR reported, citing court records, felony firearm possession on school property and reckless handling of a firearm, an arrest on Oct. 7, her release on bond, and a court date of Dec. 15. The charges are allegations. Evans has not been convicted of anything, the case is pending, and she has not responded to requests for comment, according to WTVR.
In a statement provided to WAVY, the Virginia Department of Education said that “young children should never be around unsecured firearms while in the care of public schools and child care facilities,” that it opened an investigation with Child Protective Services as soon as it learned of the allegations, and that it “recommended the strongest possible consequences.” The department told WAVY the center has not operated since Oct. 1 and will not reopen while administrative proceedings are underway.
The gun case is the worst item in a thick file. Inspectors found 56 violations at the center between early June and Oct. 1, according to Department of Social Services records reviewed by WRIC, and the center has not had a clean inspection since March 10, WRIC reported. An Oct. 8 inspection — after the gun incident — still found children left unsupervised and vaccination records not kept up, according to WTVR. Inspectors also documented an Aug. 3 incident in which a 3-year-old was served uncut grapes, began to choke, and had to go find the only teacher in the room to get help, according to the Department of Social Services records reviewed by WRIC. The center opened in March and has been operating on a provisional license, WTVR reported.
The center's plan of correction, filed with the state, commits to retraining staff on mandatory reporting requirements, a zero-tolerance policy for firearms and other weapons on the property, and safety training with help from Richmond police, according to the Department of Social Services. None of that reopens the doors. The closure is the state's, and it runs until the administrative case is decided, the Virginia Department of Education told WAVY.
Authorities have not released the child's name or gender, and Previously is not identifying the child. The five children at the table were not hurt either, according to the report. For the families involved, the outcome — a horrifying what-if instead of a funeral — turned on one staff member looking up at the right second.
For parents, the case is also a reminder that Virginia daycare inspection reports are public records. The state posts inspection findings, violations and correction plans for licensed centers, and Thrive's file was sitting there, violation by violation, months before a toddler found a gun in a fanny pack, according to the records reviewed by WRIC and WTVR. What remains open: the administrative proceedings that will decide whether Thrive Learning Center East ever reopens, Evans's Dec. 15 court date, and what regulators do with the record they had already built. Previously will update this story as those cases move.
