Terry Mullins says he's known several people who have shifted career paths drastically once they hit middle age.

But he believes 48-year-old Mark Stephen Foster is a special case.

"I couldn't possibly imagine how he could go from being a machinst into being a classroom with children," Mullins says.

That's why he finds is difficult to believe the fourth grade teacher charged with shooting two principals at Knox County's Inskip Elementary school, is the same Mark Foster Foster he claims turned violent after being fired for missing too much work at Oak Ridge Tool and Engineering in 1995.

"He actually did threaten my life," Mullins says.

"Had Oak Ridge Police not intercepted him, I might not be here.
I asked him, with a therapist present, what he would have done had my family been with me if he'd been able to confront me. He looked me straight in the eye and said, I would have kiled them also."

Mullins says Knox County Schools never called him for a job reference before administrators hired Foster to teach at Inskip in June 2008.

"Many times people are reluctant to divulge the full gamut of their feelings about an individual," says attorney Rick Hollow.

"They're afraid of being sued, so many will tell you no more than
when an applicant began work, and when he or she left employment."

Hollow says that leaves employers few options beyond utilizing public records to conduct more thorough background checks.

Knox County Schools submits applicant's fingerprints to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, checks for complaints of abuse with the Department of Children's Services, and requires a drug screen, according to Superintendent Dr. James McIntyre.

"He (Foster) came up clean," Dr. McIntyre says.

"Probably most prospective employers do not go that far to check incident reports," Hollow says.

'Incident reports', as law enforcement agencies describe them, are written accounts of investigations in which the findings do not result in criminal charges.

Volunteer TV News has confirmed that the Anderson County Sheriff's Department has investigated Foster seven times, dating back
more than seven years.

On August 4, 2002, Foster's brother asked officers to remove
him from family property after he exhibited 'extreme emotional disturbance.'

On August 18, 2005, Foster's family obtained a court order
seeking a mental evaluation for him at Ridgeview; a psychiatric
facility in Anderson County. Foster apparently underwent that evaluation two days later, but Ridgeview did not admit him for treatment.

Twice within a week in August 2006, a woman filed a complaint, claiming Foster harassed her while driving.

Last Saint Patrick's Day, a stylist lodged complaints of harassment, claiming Foster confronted her over his haircut.

Foster's family barred him from his mother's funeral last April,
amid reports that he had threatened his brother. His brother sought
an Order of Protection following the services, but a judge dismissed
it several days later for failure to show cause.

"Perhaps a public records check would have revealed a basis for re-evaluation of certain decisions, " Hollow says.

Mullins says the 'Foster Incident' almost 15 years ago, drove
Oak Ridge Tool -Engineering Inc. to install key-card controlled security locks and cameras when it relocated its headquarters.

"I think we go too far to protect somebody who could be a danger--at the expense of the group, to whom he would be a danger," Mullins says.