KOKOMO, Ind. - A Kokomo teacher is accused of stashing a gun in the ceiling of his former classroom.

Police began investigating after a gun was found above the ceiling tiles in a classroom at the Kokomo Area Career Center on March 8.

Investigators traced the gun to the ex-wife of Christopher Johnson, who taught criminal justice at the career center until May 2012.

"(In an interview with police,) Johnson was vague about how the weapon was brought into the school and taken into the classroom," Kokomo police said in a news release. "Johnson said it would have been logical that he placed the weapon in the ceiling to keep it away from students."

Johnson turned himself in to police Tuesday on preliminary charges of possessing a firearm on school property and criminal recklessness.

Johnson taught at the career center for five years.