Woman who shot at board member running for Greensboro City Council

Published 12:00 am Friday, August 12, 2011

GREENSBORO — A former Rowan-Salisbury School System teacher who served nearly two years in prison for shooting at a system administrator has filed to run for the Greensboro City Council a second time.
Deborah Faye Brogden filed Monday for a seat on the council, according to the Guilford County Board of Elections.
In November 1997, Brogden went to the home of Dr. Danny Thomas, who was then an associate superintendent in the Rowan-Salisbury system, and fired a gun at him. Thomas was not injured.
Authorities said Brogden was angry about losing her job with the school system the previous June. Thomas, who was in charge of personnel at the time, said he and Brogden argued outside his home, and when he asked her to leave, she pulled a handgun and fired once in his direction.
The incident happened a week after Brogden lost her first bid for a seat on the Greensboro City Council.
A jury convicted Brogden in August 1998 of assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a government official. Judge Erwin Spainhour amended that to assault with a delay weapon on a government official — which carries a heavier penalty — and sentenced her to up to two years in prison.
An appeals court ruled in 2000 that Spainhour erred in amending the jury verdict and ordered Brogden released four months early, in May of that year.