Cafeteria worker arrested for shooting BB gun at children: 'If I don't get them now, I'll get them tomorrow at lunch'

Kristine Solomon
Marie McWilliams was arrested for simple assault and harassment, among other charges, after she opened fire with a BB gun on a playground. (Photo: Courtesy of WNEP 16)
Marie McWilliams was arrested for simple assault and harassment, among other charges, after she opened fire with a BB gun on a playground. (Photo: Courtesy of WNEP 16)

A cafeteria worker at a school in Coal Township, Penn. was arrested on Tuesday night after shooting a BB gun at children in the playground across the street from her home.

Marie McWilliams admitted to the Coal Township police that she fired the weapon out of the upstairs window of her home because she “got angry when they started to curse at her,” according to WNEP 16. She works as a lunch lady for the Shamokin Area School District, and told a parent who confronted her, “If I don’t get [the kids] now, I will get them tomorrow.”


One of the children called 911 at 7:30 p.m. to report McWilliams, noting that he could hear the pellets flying past his head, according to a press release by the Coal Township Police Department shared with Yahoo Lifestyle. McWilliams was apprehended and charged with simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, harassment and the sale and use of air rifles.

“Who would do that? What kind of person would shoot BBs at little kids playing?” wondered Christina Iovanna to WNEP 16.

Others want McWilliams to be terminated from her position as a cafeteria worker for children.

“My granddaughter goes up there. What happens if she was up there? You just don’t know. You have to be afraid,” added Tammy Rose. “She should be fired. She shouldn’t be around kids for doing something like that.”

Yahoo Lifestyle has reached out to the Shamokin Area School District for comment. A spokesperson told WNEP 16 that McWilliams is not employed by the district, but by Nutrition Incorporated, an outside company that handles the district’s food service. Nutrition Incorporated declined to comment.

McWilliams was arraigned Wednesday and is being held at Northumberland County Jail on $10,000 bail.

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