A Virginia teacher was arrested Wednesday after allegedly lining up his students during class and firing multiple blank shots from a gun at them. 

Manuael Ernest Dillow, 60, of Kingsport, Va., was charged with 12 felony counts of  brandishing a firearm on school property, the Kingsport Times News reported. 

The charges are Class 6 felonies, according to the newspaper, and each count is punishable by up to five years in jail and a $2,500 fine. 

The incident reportedly occurred April 4 at William H. Neff Center, a vocational school in Abingdon. Dillow allegedly lined up the 12 students during a welding class. 

"He then pulled a 'blank firing handgun,' black in color, from the back waistband of his pants and discharged the weapon between four and ten shots in the direction of the line of the students," police said in a press release.

The incident frightened the students, but none were physically injured, the newspaper reported.