A New York City teacher was arrested after he threatened to shoot a classroom of students in order to get the students to listen to him, police sources told NBC New York.

Alejandro Rocha, a substitute teacher in Queens, was arrested on Wednesday after making the threat in front of an art class full of 11- and 12-year-old students, police sources said.

The 52-year-old Rocha allegedly told the Elmhurst students that if they didn't do what he was telling them to do, he was going to shoot them. Police sources said that Rocha told the children that he had a gun.

The teacher admitted that he said it to his supervisor, who then reported the incident. Rocha was charged with making a terroristic threat. Attorney information was not immediately clear.