Two years earlier than he was arrested within the killings of two Arkansas hikers, Andrew J. McGann was identified to some mother and father at a Texas elementary faculty for his sample of off-putting conduct round their youngsters.
Lindsay Camp Polyak, whose son would spend some days in McGann’s classroom at Donald Elementary College within the city of Flower Mound, mentioned she and different mother and father grew involved that he was not correctly instructing their kids and felt they had been falling behind academically. She additionally observed what she characterised as McGann’s “grooming” of ladies within the classroom.
“My child would come house and say, ‘Mr. McGann likes to play tag. He performs tag at recess each day with the ladies,’” Polyak mentioned, including that her son informed her McGann gave out sweet and particular prizes — however solely to the ladies.
In a bunch chat with different fourth grade mother and father, Polyak mentioned she discovered that McGann organized “particular lunches” the place sure ladies would stay in his classroom; some mother and father alleged McGann inspired ladies to sit down on his lap.
Particulars about McGann’s background as a instructor emerged after authorities arrested him within the deadly stabbings of a pair at Arkansas’ Satan’s Den State Park on July 26. Officers imagine McGann, 28, fatally stabbed Clinton David Brink, 43, and his spouse, Cristen Amanda Brink, 42, in entrance of their 7- and 9-year-old daughters.
McGann’s motive stays a thriller. Arkansas State Police Director Mike Hagar informed reporters Thursday that officers have “no purpose to imagine that there was any identified affiliation between our suspect and our victims.” Arkansas authorities don’t imagine the Brinks’ younger daughters had been the supposed targets of what seems to have been a random assault.
Polyak discovered about McGann’s arrest at a barbershop after a mother or father despatched her a hyperlink to a information article. “I used to be like, holy s—, that is McGann, that is the man who was instructing my child,” she mentioned. “He had no enterprise being round our youngsters.”
Megan Perkins, one other mother or father whose little one attended Donald Elementary, described McGann as “odd.” She recalled that he was unnecessarily aggressive with the youngsters throughout discipline day athletic contests. She mentioned different mother and father would chat about his unusual conduct, although not everybody was essentially alarmed and a few believed he was merely insecure as the brand new man in the neighborhood.
In an announcement, the Lewisville Unbiased College District mentioned McGann was “positioned on administrative go away within the spring of 2023 following considerations associated to classroom administration, skilled judgement and pupil favoritism.” The varsity district mentioned an “inside investigation discovered no proof of inappropriate conduct with college students.”
The Texas Schooling Company mentioned it had no document of state investigations into McGann, however positioned a flag on his instructing certificates on Thursday following his arrest.
McGann resigned from the college district in Could 2023, Lewisville ISD mentioned. He then moved again to Oklahoma, the place he received a job as a fifth grade instructor at Spring Creek Elementary College in Oklahoma Metropolis for the 2023-24 faculty 12 months.
In an interview with NBC Information, a lady whose son was in McGann’s class at Spring Creek mentioned he was “fairly quiet, however all the youngsters liked him.”
The girl, who spoke on the situation of anonymity due to considerations about potential harassment, mentioned her son admired his instructor and began sporting polo shirts to high school “as a result of that’s how Mr. McGann dressed.” McGann expressed an curiosity in wrestling, mountaineering and the outside, and at one level he began a working membership for the youngsters.
She observed that McGann was often “awkward across the mother and father” and “struggled to make eye contact throughout parent-teacher conferences.” He as soon as joked that he taught elementary faculty college students as a result of he was “afraid of adults,” she mentioned.
In an announcement, Oklahoma’s Damaged Arrow Public Faculties mentioned McGann “voluntarily resigned on the finish of that 12 months to pursue employment elsewhere.”
The district mentioned there have been “no disciplinary actions taken towards him throughout his time at Damaged Arrow Public Faculties, and nothing in his background or reference checks gave trigger for concern throughout the interview course of.”
McGann’s subsequent cease was Northwoods Wonderful Arts Academy within the Tulsa suburb of Sand Springs, the place he labored throughout the 2024-25 faculty 12 months. He once more taught fifth grade and once more “resigned his place” on the finish of 1 tutorial 12 months, Sand Springs Public Faculties confirmed in an announcement.
It’s not clear why McGann determined to relocate to Arkansas. However he had lined up one other instructing job there, this time with Springdale Public Faculties.
On July 26, two weeks earlier than the beginning of the college 12 months, a hiker got here throughout a grisly crime scene in Satan’s Den State Park. The hiker discovered two ladies alone on the path, led them to security, after which got here throughout their mother and father, who had been stabbed to loss of life, in line with a preliminary report from the prosecutor’s workplace for the state’s 4th Judicial District.
A person had been noticed leaving the path with what gave the impression to be blood on his face earlier than getting right into a black sedan later decided to be a Kia Stinger, in line with the report.
The killings kicked off a manhunt that lasted 4 days earlier than police tracked the Stinger to Springdale, the place McGann was getting a haircut.
The barber, Adriana Guadalupe Ruiz Avalos, mentioned she received an odd feeling about him virtually instantly.
Ruiz Avalos mentioned she tends to have a very good learn on the purchasers who stream into Lupita’s, an unassuming family-owned magnificence salon within the Arkansas city of Springdale. That’s why her guard went up when a tense-faced 20-something in saggy khakis stepped into the salon on Wednesday afternoon and tersely requested for a high-fade haircut.
Ruiz Avalos, 28, began snipping away however saved an in depth eye on her buyer. She had been following information studies concerning the frantic seek for the suspect within the Satan’s Den killings. The person in entrance of her appeared timid, barely saying a phrase and preserving his head down.
Roughly 5 minutes into the haircut, a regulation enforcement officer walked inside. He was searching for the driving force of the automotive parked exterior, and he had a number of questions for Ruiz Avalos’ quiet buyer.
Earlier than lengthy, McGann was handcuffed and brought away.
Ruiz Avalos, who watches plenty of true-crime documentaries, made some extent of preserving McGann’s hair clippings on the ground within the occasion they might be helpful to investigators looking for DNA proof. Within the hours after his arrest, she had hassle calming down.
“I felt nauseous all evening. I didn’t go to sleep till 6 a.m. I used to be simply fascinated with them,” Ruiz Avalos mentioned, referring to the Brinks.
The Brinks, like McGann, had been latest transplants to Arkansas. That they had moved to the state about three weeks in the past, in line with Clinton’s sister, Katrina Hutchins.
The household mentioned Clinton and Cristen died “defending their little ladies.”
“They deserve justice,” the household mentioned in a quick assertion.
McGann has been booked on prices of capital homicide, jail information present. Authorities mentioned that McGann’s DNA matched that discovered on the scene. He made statements to investigators “indicating that he had dedicated these heinous acts.”
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