The student was charged with third-degree felony possession of a weapon.
PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — A 14-year-old student at Q.I. Junior-Senior High School in Putnam County was arrested for allegedly bringing a gun to school Friday.
The teen was charged with third-degree felony possession of a weapon.
First Coast News will not be naming the student because he is a minor.
Youth resource deputies were nominated through the FortifyFL app, a suspicious activity reporting tool that sends information directly to law enforcement and school officials.
The student was able to be taken into custody within “less than three minutes,” according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
The school didn’t have to be locked own and the day continued as normal.
The gun was inside a holster in the student’s backpack, police said. The student told the deputies he found the gun near Main Street and Madison Street in Palatka on the way to his bus stop.
He said he never took the gun out of his backpack.
Police said the gun was covered in dirt and wouldn’t be able to fire in the condition in was in. They believe there was “no ill-intent” and the student didn’t intend to use the gun.
“Despite the fact that there was no ill-intent, we have to charge this student for bringing a firearm on campus,” Sheriff H.D. ‘Gator’ DeLoach said. “This gun could have fallen into the wrong hands and we would have 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.”
