THE former teacher accused of killing a couple in front of their children allegedly tickled pupils and is said to have put a little girl on his lap.
Suspect Andrew James McGann, 28, spent the last few years moving from school to school after disturbing allegations about his creepy behaviour emerged.
McGann is set to appear in court on Friday[/caption]
Christen and Clinton Brink were hiking with their daughters on July 26 when they were allegedly attacked by Andrew McGann[/caption]
The Brinks were found dead on a rural hiking trail in Devil’s Den State Park in northwest Arkansas[/caption]
McGann was set to start teaching third grade next week, but is now behind bars after allegedly murdering Clinton Brink and his wife, Cristen Brink, while their two daughters, 7 and 9, ran to safety.
After a five-day manhunt, McGann was arrested mid-haircut at a salon on Thursday and admitted to cops that he killed the Brinks in Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas on Saturday, police said.
McGann now faces charges of two counts of capital murder and could face the death penalty for the crime.
One distressed parent at his former Texas school told the New York Post that McGann once asked a little girl to be his “girlfriend” after putting her on his lap.
The dad, whose son was occasionally in his class, fumed: “This monster was around our children.
“This monster was around our children,” fumed the dad, who added that his son was occasionally in his class on Fridays.
“Mr. McGann was giving a lot of special treatment to girls in particular.
“He was giving them candy, bringing them Sonic drinks, playing tag with them, tickling them, just really suspect behaviour.”
The school in question, Lewisville ISD, said that McGann was placed on administrative leave after “concerns related to classroom management, professional judgment, and student favouritism”
But the investigation found no evidence against the suspected killer while he was employed between 2022 to 2023, after which he resigned.
McGann, who had just moved from Oklahoma to the Washington County area in northwest Arkansas to start a new teaching role, was arrested on Wednesday inside Lupita’s Beauty Salon in Springdale.
Clinton was stabbed first, then Cristen got her daughters to safety before she came back to help her husband and was also stabbed to death, Arkansas State Police said at a press conference on Thursday.
Chilling audio revealed the moment that police found the parents’ bodies after the girls fled to a nearby visitor center for help.
DNA taken from McGann matched DNA from the horrific scene in the park, police said.
Cops believe McGann, who had no criminal history, acted alone and that it was a random attack because he didn’t know the Brinks.
Investigators are still trying to determine a motive.
TEACHING HISTORY
McGann had recently moved to the area as he was hired as a “teacher candidate” for the upcoming school year, Springdale Public Schools said in a statement to The U.S. Sun.
“This individual has not at any time come into contact with Springdale students or the families we serve,” SPS said.
While he hadn’t yet met his potential Arkansas students, McGann had previously got in trouble for inappropriate contact during his first year teaching.
After graduating from Oklahoma State University with a degree in elementary education in May 2022, he moved to northwestern Texas to teach fourth-grade math at Donald Elementary in Flower Mound.
“The individual was placed on administrative leave in the spring of 2023 following concerns related to classroom management, professional judgment, and student favoritism,” the school district, Lewisville ISD, said in a statement shared with The U.S. Sun.
“An internal investigation found no evidence of inappropriate behavior with students. The teacher resigned from the district in May 2023.”
‘PRETTY DISINTERESTED’
Sierra Marcum, a mom of one of McGann’s former students at Donald Elementary, said the teacher was the “most standoffish teacher she had ever met,” according to the Associated Press.
“Pretty cold. You could ask him a question, and he would give you a one-word response,” Marcum told the outlet.
“Overall, just pretty disinterested in his students.”
Marcum claimed that her son noticed inappropriate behaviour from him towards little girls in his class, but the school district didn’t comment on the allegation.
After leaving Texas, McGann went back to the state of Oklahoma, where he worked as a fifth-grade science and social studies teacher for Broken Arrow Public Schools during the 2023-2024 school year.
“As with all employees hired by the district, he was subjected to and passed the legally required background checks prior to being hired,” Broken Arrow Public Schools said in a statement to The U.S. Sun.
The district said he told them he left the position to work out of state, but instead took a job at a small nearby district in the Tulsa area.
However, he stayed in Oklahoma and taught at Sand Springs Public Schools, near Tulsa, from summer 2024 until May of this year.
He passed all background checks for the job, the district said in a statement. He resigned to take a job in another state.
McGann had not yet started his job in Arkansas at Springdale Public Schools, the district confirmed.
On Wednesday evening, he was arrested while getting a haircut at Lupita’s Beauty Salon and Barber Shop, which is just about a 30-minute drive from where he allegedly slaughtered the Brinks.
Surveillance footage from the salon showed cops taking the barber cape off McGann before putting him in handcuffs.
