UPDATE: Teacher Accused Of Holding Teens At Gunpoint

    Hamilton County Schools will start asking questions tomorrow about a teacher accused of holding teenagers at gunpoint near a cemetery. NewsChannel 9 Weekend broke this story Sunday night and has learned more details.

      Deputies accuse Sequoyah high teacher Stacy Swallows of using his car to hem in nine teenagers, with an assault rifle (described by Hamilton County Information Officer Janice Atkinson as an AR-15) in hand.

    But Swallows' neighbors defend him and his actions.

    Investigators say a group of nine teenagers came to Shipley Cemetery in search of a ghost adventure. But Hamilton County deputies say Sequoyah High teacher Stacy Swallows confronted them with an assault rifle Saturday night. Public Information Officer Janice Atkinson said, "He had a rifle pointed at them. His vehicle was blocking the roadway."

   Shipley is an old family cemetery in Sale Creek. Shipley Cemetery Road leads to the hillside cemetery. The road dips down and circles around with only one way in or out. Detectives say the teens, ranging from 16 to 19 years old, came in three different cars.

   Atkinson says an online search for haunted cemeteries led them here. "This Shipley Cemetery came up as being haunted, that's what they were doing up there. Now the defendant lives in that area and says he heard some gunshots, that's why he went up there," Atkinson said.

Swallows lives next to the cemetery. Russell and Kathleen Leslie live just up the road from Swallows. They've been neighbors for five years, describe him as a "good neighbor" and understand why he did what he did.

  Lelsie Russell said, "I mean with two little girls and his wife there, I'm sure that's all he was trying to do (protect them) because he wouldn't do anything that was against the law."

   The call first came in as shots fired, but investigators did not find any guns on the teenagers. Deputies learned on the way to the shots fired call that Swallows was holding the teens at gunpoint, until they arrived. Kathleen Leslie stood by the actions of her neighbor, "He probably did what he thought was right at the time. I don't know whether it was right or wrong, but he thought it was right."

   The couple saw the news of Swallows' arrest. Russell Leslie was floored, "I couldn't believe it. She says guess what: I said what and she said Stacy got arrested." The couple says in the past teens have caused problems in the cemetery.

   Atkinson adds four wheelers have also vandalized Swallows property. He now faces nine counts of aggravated assault and nine counts of false imprisonment. His neighbors remain perplexed at his arrest. "From what we understand, he called the police to help him, so why would the police arrest him?" Kathleen Leslie pondered.