GLOUCESTER, Va. — Four men accused of bringing guns to a Gloucester County School Board meeting earlier this year appeared in court Thursday.
During a preliminary hearing at the Gloucester General District Court, a judge ruled there was enough probable cause for the matter to go before a grand jury, which will meet by January to decide whether to formally indict the men or not.
Trevor Herrin, Derek Coblentz, Christopher Cordasco and Antonio Hernandez all face felony charges for bringing a firearm onto school property. According to the Gloucester County Sheriff's Office (GCSO), in July, five men entered the Thomas Calhoun Walker Education Center during a school board meeting. The fifth man was not charged.
An on-duty deputy reportedly took note of the men, who dispersed inside the auditorium.
The deputy noticed one of the men, 28-year-old Trevor Herrin, had a knife attached to the back of his belt in a “scout carry” position. The GCSO said this position gives easy access to withdraw the knife from the sheath.
Herrin eventually went to the podium during the public comment period. He told the audience his car tires had been slashed during the last school board meeting.
Herrin said he “would strongly recommend caution and reflection before engaging in anything like that, especially with someone you don’t know, with capabilities you don’t know," according to the GCSO.
When Herrin finished speaking at the podium, the deputy noticed a pistol on the right side of Herrin's body.
"...He previously was unable to see due to the positioning of the weapon and the shirt the male was wearing hanging below his belt line (concealed)," the sheriff's office wrote in a press release.
Deputies followed the men outside and asked the men to remove their guns, to which they allegedly refused. Deputies then put TC Walker Education Center into lockdown as they attempted to negotiate with the men.
Law enforcement charged the men for bringing weapons onto school property, but Herrin told 13News Now he does not consider TC Walker Education Center to be a school.
"It is not a government facility any more than a Lockheed Martin Office is a DoD facility," Herrin said. "It's privately operated and it does not matter who is paying the bill."
Herrin's attorneys told a Gloucester judge the building was no longer in use as an elementary school when the incident happened. They said it is instead run by a "private" child day care facility.
Attorneys with the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office disagreed. They said the building is still considered to be "school property" and noted several signs telling all visitors to leave any weapons behind.