Christian School Burglarized by Three of its Students

(Memphis) A staff member at Gateway Christian School was cleaning up the mess left behind by burglars. 

It was allegedly students robbing their own school.

“They broke windows, stole money, went through our file cabinets and threw papers everywhere and broke down doors and went in to all of our four buildings,” said Terry Bumgardner with Gateway Christian Schools.

He says video surveillance caught three burglars breaking into their campus Monday night, kicking down doors, even prying into vending machines, trying to get whatever cash they could.

“At this point, [we’re out] a couple thousand dollars,” said Bumgardner. “The greatest damage is the amount of time we spent getting things back together. We actually had to close our campus for a day.”

Memphis Police arrested 18-year-old John Howell a student at the school.

Police say he confessed to the burglary and returned $130 he had taken.

“When a police detective was at his doorstep, he had a change of heart,” said Bumgardner.

Two other students were also arrested, according to Bumgardner, but police are not releasing their information because they are under 18.

He says the school is willing to forgive, if the young men are willing to do what’s right.

“When young men do things like this it`s a cry for help, so we here at Gateway Baptist will reach out and help them in spite of what they`ve done to us,” said Bumgardner.

Those students have been expelled, but Bumgardner says it’s not permanent, as long as they repent.

Howell is in jail on a $35,000 bond.