A 14-year-old student from Q.I. Roberts Junior-Senior High School found himself in police custody on Friday afternoon, charged with third-degree felony possession of a weapon on a school campus.
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According to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the arrest came following a notification received by youth resource deputies via the FortifyFL app, indicating the presence of a firearm in the student’s backpack.
Acting swiftly, deputies managed to detain the student, identified as a 9th grader, within three minutes of receiving the tip.
Fortunately, due to the prompt response and the absence of class changes, the school administration decided against initiating a lockdown, allowing regular activities to proceed as usual.
Upon inspection of the student’s backpack, deputies discovered a handgun secured in a holster.
The student claimed to have stumbled upon the firearm near Main Street and Madison Street in Palatka while en route to his bus stop. However, the student maintained that he had never removed the gun from his backpack.
Deputies reportedly observed that the gun was covered in dirt and appeared to be in a condition unsuitable for firing. Despite their assessment that there was no malicious intent behind the student’s actions, authorities stressed the severity of bringing a firearm onto school premises.
“Despite the fact that there was no ill-intent, we have to charge this student for bringing a firearm on campus,” stated Sheriff H.D. ‘Gator’ DeLoach. “This gun could have fallen into the wrong hands, and we would have had a different scenario. All this young man needed to do was turn in the gun to an adult, Deputy Brady, or an administrator on the campus.”
Following the arrest, the 14-year-old was taken into custody and subsequently released to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
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Source Agencies
