Mother’s Reaction to LGBTQ Assignment Lands Her in Legal Trouble

Handgun with bullets on a wooden surface.

An Indiana mother faces felony charges after bringing a gun to her daughter’s elementary school during a confrontation with a teacher over a harmless assignment about flags that she mistakenly believed was LGBTQ propaganda.

Key Takeaways

Carrie Rivers was arrested for bringing a firearm to Valley Mills Elementary School in Indianapolis and threatening her daughter’s teacher over a misinterpreted assignment about flags.
The mother sent threatening messages to the teacher, calling her a “child predator” despite the teacher allowing Rivers’ daughter to skip the assignment.
Rivers claimed she “forgot” she was carrying the gun in her waistband when she came to school, while her husband remarkably stated parents “bring guns into the school all the time.”
The confrontation escalated from a classroom assignment about various types of flags, not specifically LGBTQ issues as the mother incorrectly assumed.
Rivers now faces charges of possession of a firearm on school property and harassment, and has been banned from campus.

Mother’s Misplaced Outrage Leads to Criminal Charges

Carrie Rivers, an Indiana mother, now faces serious legal consequences after what appears to be a severe overreaction to a classroom assignment. The incident occurred at Valley Mills Elementary School in Indianapolis when Rivers confronted her daughter’s sixth-grade teacher over an assignment she believed was promoting LGBTQ ideology. During the confrontation, school officials discovered Rivers was armed with a pistol in her waistband, violating clear laws prohibiting firearms on school property.

The teacher had merely included the rainbow pride flag as one example in a lesson about different types of flags. The assignment wasn’t focused on LGBTQ issues at all, but rather was teaching students about the differences between national and non-national flags. Despite this clarification and the fact that the teacher had already allowed Rivers’ daughter to skip the assignment entirely, the mother escalated the situation dramatically both during and after the confrontation.

Alarming Threats and Dangerous Precedent

After leaving the school, Rivers continued her campaign of intimidation by sending threatening messages to the teacher. These messages went far beyond expressing disagreement with curriculum, crossing into dangerous territory with statements suggesting potential violence. One message ominously warned the teacher to “Say ur prayers and kiss ur kids goodbye and goodnight u never know when god says its our time so be prepared.”

“God will condemn you to hell,” wrote Carrie Rivers in one of her threatening messages to her daughter’s teacher.

The responding officer, Tabetha Emenaker, provided evidence of Rivers’ armed presence at the school. This underscores a troubling breakdown in school security that allowed an armed, agitated parent to confront a teacher directly. Even more concerning is the casual attitude about weapons in school displayed by the family after the incident. When questioned, Rivers claimed she simply “forgot” she was carrying the weapon because she was accustomed to having it.

The Disturbing “New Normal” Claim

Perhaps most shocking in this entire incident is the statement made by Rivers’ husband, who attempted to normalize bringing weapons to school – a federal offense. He claimed that parents regularly bring firearms onto school property without consequence, a statement that should alarm every parent with children in the district if true.

“We see [other parents] bring guns into the school all the time, just to drop kids off,” claimed Leon Rivers, attempting to justify his wife’s actions.

While parental involvement in education is essential and legitimate concerns about curriculum deserve attention, this case demonstrates how misinformation and jumping to conclusions can lead to dangerous outcomes. If Rivers had simply asked for clarification about the assignment before making assumptions, this entire situation could have been avoided. Instead, her daughter now faces the trauma of having a parent arrested and banned from campus, all over a misunderstood lesson about flags that she wasn’t even required to complete.