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WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — A Warner Robins teacher is accused of threatening to behead a student after she made a comment about his Israeli flag, according to the Houston County Sheriff's Office.
Benjamin Reese is a 7th-grade social studies teacher at Warner Robins Middle School. He was arrested on Dec. 8.
Several witnesses said they overheard Reese shouting "You motherfg piece of st! I'll kick your a. I should cut your motherf****g head off," around students on Friday.
According to the incident report, at around 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 7, a deputy was on duty when he was informed Reese threatened a child's life. It happened in the 7th-grade technical hallway when students were on their way back to the 8th-grade hallway.
The report says a student wanted to talk to Reese about the Israeli flag in his classroom and told him she found it offensive.
Reese asked her if it had anything to do with Judaism. She wanted to know why it was hanging there, and Reese told the student he was Jewish and had family members who still lived in Israel.
The student says she found the flag offensive "due to Israelis killing Palestinians."
Reese then told the student she was being antisemitic.
After that, several different witnesses independently said they heard Reese say, "he would kick her fg a, slit her godn throat and drag her a** outside and cut her head off."
A faculty member says she heard Reese say, "You don't make an antisemitic comment like that to a Jew." The witness says the student responded negatively to Reese but was not yelling.
The witness says the students left the classroom, but Reese followed them down the hallway.
The same witness says Reese was later seen returning to his classroom, cursing extremely loudly. The witness says he was yelling that he "should not be spoken to like that because he is a Jew."
He went on saying, "I will drag her a** into the parking lot, slit her f*****g throat and kill her."
A deputy at the school interviewed several witnesses and they said they heard Reese make similar statements. They included other teachers, staff members and students who were in class for tutoring or after-school detention.
The deputy reviewed video from the hallway of what happened.
The video has no audio but it showed Reese yelling down the hallway and heading back into his classroom.
The deputy informed the principal, Brett Wallace, about what happened. He also talked to Reese in his classroom with Wallace present.
Wallace asked Reese if he threatened students, and the report says Reese became very defensive.
Wallace asked who Reese had last spoken to, and he denied speaking to anyone.
He then told Wallace and the deputy that there was a student who found the Israeli flag in his classroom offensive. Reese told the student they were being antisemitic.
Reese went on to say that he did not say anything racist and that he had spoken to another teacher about the issue.
The deputy then led Reese from the hallway to his classroom. The report says Reese was angry about the situation and "kicked the door stopper in an aggressive manner."
When the deputy asked what happened between Reese and the student, Reese asked if the deputy was asking as an SRO (School Resource Officer), or as an officer. The deputy said both, and Reese said he had nothing further to say and invoked his civil rights.
Reese then walked away without saying anything else, the report says.
Witnesses included other students and teachers with their classroom doors open. Some witnesses say the students were shocked to hear those words from Reese.
A judge set Reese's bond at $2,500 for the terroristic threat charge and $5,000 for the charge of cruelty to children. Reese bonded out.
Houston County Schools issued this statement when 13WMAZ contacted them for comment:
"All employees of the Houston County School District are required to follow the Code of Ethics for Educators. If there is a violation or accusation of a violation, we investigate and respond appropriately. While we are not able to discuss specific personnel matters, we can share that Mr. Reese has not been on the campus of Warner Robins Middle School since Dec. 7, 2023. Safety and the well-being of our students and staff is our number one priority."
