A California parish school averted a possible mass shooting, thanks to the quick intervention of an off-duty law enforcement officer and school parent who detained an armed former student.
The suspect is now facing a federal charge of possessing a firearm within a school zone — and the school’s principal credits parent volunteers serving as safety monitors for preventing what could have been a tragedy.
The incident comes some six months after the deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis during a school liturgy.
On Feb. 18, St. Mary Parish in Sacramento was celebrating an all-school morning Mass for Ash Wednesday when a former student, 20-year-old Brian Richard Girardot Jr., attempted to enter the parish church at about 9:30 a.m.
Almost two hours earlier, Girardot had dropped off a younger relative, who attends the school, and then returned to the parish campus with a loaded revolver as the Mass was in process.
In a Feb. 18 statement, which was posted to St. Mary Parish School’s Facebook page and reposted by the parish, principal Amy Hale said that “all church doors were locked per our standard procedure.”
In addition, she said, “parent observers were positioned outside and inside of the church.”
One of those observers, whom Hale said was “an off-duty law enforcement parent,” noticed “a suspicious male adult approach the front of the church” who asked to be admitted to the church to attend Mass.
“The parent observer asked more questions and detained the man,” Hale said in her statement. “The observer located and removed a loaded firearm, concealed on the man’s person.”
The Sacramento Police “responded within minutes,” she added.
According to court documents, Girardot was “stopped and subsequently arrested” by an off-duty Sacramento Police detective, who was providing security for St. Mary Parish that day.
The off-duty detective also searched Girardot’s car, where additional ammunition and a camouflage jacket were found.
Court documents noted Girard’s revolver, a Taurus Tracker .44 magnum caliber, was likely obtained through interstate commerce, since the manufacturer does not produce arms in California.
During a police search of Girardot’s Sacramento residence the same day, officers located a shotgun and four rifles in a safe in the garage.
A set of handwritten notes was also found in Girardot’s bedroom, with one profanity-laced message describing it as a suicide note. Another note named three relatives, adding, “All of you are the reason Ive done this.”
Girardot said in a police interview that he had written the notes at an unspecified earlier time, and had retrieved them to look at them.
“The notes were found on top of a pile, however, suggesting that he had recently placed or moved the notes there,” according to a court document.
The document also noted Girardot had one prior arrest by California Highway Patrol in June 2024 for trespassing at a California state building under construction at the time.
Along with the federal charge, Girardot has been charged criminally in state court, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California in a Feb. 19 release.
If convicted, Girardot could face a maximum prison sentence of five years, the release said.
“Thanks to the vigilance and professionalism of our parent volunteers, our children remained safely inside the church for the duration of Mass and a potential crisis was averted,” Hale said in her statement. “No students came into contact with the man, and were unaware of the situation happening outside. After Mass the children were escorted back to class.”
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