TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Kathy Morris called 911 on Monday, hysterically reporting being shot by a Hispanic teenager about 90 minutes before students arrived for her class at La Cima Middle School.
Classes were canceled and frightened teachers met for hours with counselors. Sheriff's deputies, including SWAT officers, searched the school and the neighborhood.They needn't have bothered.
Police said Morris, who has taught at the school since 1991, admitted shooting herself in the shoulder to highlight the lack of security at the school.
"Last night when we discovered a .38-caliber handgun in the purse of the victim, we became more concerned that in fact we had had an invalid report," Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Tuesday.
Pima County sheriff's spokeswoman Deputy Deanna Coultas said Morris also had sent herself threatening notes using cutout letters. One of the notes read "pass she lives, fail she dies."
"We're dealing with irrational thinking and irrational behavior," Coultas said.
Morris, 35, was in fair condition Tuesday night. The sixth-grade science teacher who also taught choir declined all interview requests.
Student Priscella Klein said, "She didn't only hurt herself, she hurt everyone around her. We all felt really bad, but today we are all really mad, and I don't ever want to step foot inside her classroom again."
Detectives became suspicious when Morris said she had been shot from 6 feet away. Powder burns on her clothing indicated the distance was a matter of inches.
Prosecutor Barbara LaWall said her office would file a civil petition to have Morris committed to a mental health facility. Morris, who has been placed on paid administrative leave, also could face criminal charges.
Morris' "allegation was destructive, damaging and insulting to our students and members of the district's minority community," said district Superintendent Robert J. Smith, who issued an apology to the Hispanic community.
"I am sickened this occurred."