Iowa City parent pleads to taking gun into school, threatening staff

IOWA CITY — A parent who was armed and came into Grant Wood Elementary School last November to confront and threaten the principal and another staff member pleaded guilty Friday in Johnson County District Court.

Brandon J. Jones, 31, of Iowa City, pleaded guilty to carrying weapons on school grounds, a felony, and two charges of first-degree harassment, aggravated misdemeanors.

He faces up to nine years in prison. The prosecution will ask the judge to run the five-year felony and both two-year harassment sentences consecutively, for nine years.

Jones plans to ask for a deferred judgment, according to the written plea submitted Friday.

The remaining charge of second-degree burglary will be dismissed at sentencing as part of the plea agreement.

Jones, in the plea agreement, admitted to carrying a handgun on school grounds and to harassing Ernest Cox, the Grant Wood principal, and Ryan Brown, a school facilitator. He also admitted that he threatened to commit a forcible felony.

According to a criminal complaint, Jones walked into the school on Nov. 29, 2023, to confront the Cox about sending home Jones’ son from school. Staff members told police he demanded to see the principal and threatened to assault Cox multiple times.

He also threatened to assault Brown, who attempted to de-escalate the situation, the complaint stated. At one point, Jones removed his loaded pistol from his belt holster, handed it to his girlfriend, who was with him, and told her to “hold this so I don’t do something stupid with it.”

Jones then went into the school halls searching for Cox, according to the complaint. When staff members told him they were calling the police, he left the building and retrieved his gun from his girlfriend before police stopped him.

Surveillance recordings confirmed the staff members’ account of what happened.

Jones admitted to police to taking the gun into the school and handing it off to his girlfriend, the complaint stated. He said he didn’t remember threatening Cox and staff members, but admitted he may have in the “heat of the moment.”

The school was placed on hold — a type of lockdown where students and staff are kept in classrooms — at about 9 a.m. after Jones came into building with a gun.

Superintendent Matt Degner sent an email to families informing them about the incident that day.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com