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FAST FACTS:

• Security guard contracted by MCS shoots at 2 pitbulls
• Misses dogs, hits vehicle owned by Mayor Pro-Tem Lowery’s wife
• Dogs never caught

(Memphis 9/24/2009) A security guard fires his gun outside a Memphis City School office building and where one of those bullets landed is making waves all the way to the mayor’s office.

One of the bullets from the guard’s gun hit a car that belongs to Mayor Pro-Tem Myron Lowery’s wife. She wasn’t inside at the time. But since kids often walk through the same parking lot, it’s raising questions about what could have happened.

The 60-year-old security guard told police he was just protecting himself against two pitbulls that wandered onto the property. He fired two shots at the dogs, prompting the mayor pro-tem to start asking questions about the district’s security policy.

“The police director called and says, ‘Does your wife work on Jackson?’ I said yes. He says, ‘There’s been a shooting.’ I said ‘Oh my Lord,’” said Mayor Pro-Tem Myron Lowery.

But the district says the only ones in danger were the security guard who fired his .40 calibur weapon and the two pitbulls he was aiming at. One was just a foot away.

“He felt an imminent threat for his life. He fired two shots, the dogs immediately left that area,” said Carolyn Jackson, Security Coordinator for MCS.

The security guard works for Hawkeye Security, a company that’s contracted to work for MCS. He fired two shots at the dogs, missed both times, and instead hit the passenger side of Mary Lowery’s burgundy Buick. She declined to talk to us about the incident.

“Under what conditions should they take their guns out and shoot,” said Lowery.

School board member Martavius Jones e-mailed Lowery. Jones wrote that while he’s unaware of any policy pertaining to this situation, state laws would supercede one anyway.

“The dogs were charging the security officer and were really going to attack him,” said Jackson.

While no children were there at the time of the incident, Lowery wonders, what if?

But the district says the guard just as easily could have protected children from a potentially vicious dog.