A Glen Burnie High School substitute teacher was arrested Oct. 6 by Anne Arundel County Police after a loaded handgun was found in his backpack, according to a letter to parents from the school’s principal.

The backpack containing the 9 mm gun had been left behind in a classroom and was searched by a staff member to determine its owner, the letter from Principal Kevin Carr says.

After the gun was found, the school was locked down around 2:10 p.m. Friday, and students were held in place with no activity in the halls. Shortly after, the backpack was given to police, Carr said.

Derric Simms, 45, of Baltimore, was removed from another classroom and arrested at the school. Simms was charged with one felony count of possession of a firearm with a previous conviction of a violent crime, felony or certain kinds of drug offenses, according to online court records. He was also charged with six misdemeanors, including possession of a dangerous weapon on school grounds, disturbance of operations at a school and other firearms offenses

Online court records show Simms was convicted of illegal possession of a firearm in 1999 and 2001 in Prince George’s County.

“The person identified in this incident has been barred from serving as a substitute or acting in any role in our school system,” Carr’s letter to parents states.

He said the school has no evidence that the backpack was in the possession of any student or that the gun was ever taken out of the backpack. Students were “calm and orderly” during the incident and followed staff directions, Carr said.

At a pre-trial hearing Tuesday in district court, Judge Laura Robinson released Simms on his own recognizance. Robinson placed him on level four of Anne Arundel County’s five-level pretrial supervision system, which takes into account a defendant’s criminal and social history.

“Pre-trial level four is extensive; it requires a lot of reporting” and monitoring, Robinson said to Simms during the hearing.

The state’s attorney at the hearing argued that Simms should have to remain incarcerated due to how “reckless” the offense was given that it happened inside a school. He also pointed to a “charged” climate surrounding topics of gun control and school shootings.

Simms’ public defender didn’t argue against his client’s charges, but focused on the fact that he was cooperative at the scene. Because he had shown himself to be no threat or likely to flee, he should be released back to his family in Baltimore to await trial, his attorney said.

Robinson agreed that Simms wasn’t a threat to public safety or a flight risk.

“My job is to clear the dust, not get caught in the emotion of what could have happened,” Robinson said. “What could have happened is grave, serious and problematic, and the facts of this are egregious in that nature. What did happen was that the handgun was found, and there is no indication that it was going to be used against anyone.”