POINCIANA, Fla. — A 14-year-old was arrested in Polk County after deputies said he took a gun to school, said he was going to shoot it up, and that "nobody will make it out alive."
The Polk County Sheriff's Office said they arrested the Lake Marion Creek Middle School eighth-grader, who is not being named by ABC Action News due to him being a minor, on Wednesday.
According to the sheriff's office, while changing classes, a student was told that the eighth-grader said he "was going to shoot up the school and shoot a teacher first." Immediately after arriving at his class, the student asked his teacher for a pass to go to the office so he could report it. While entering the hallway to make his way to the office, the student saw the dean of the school and told him.
After being asked to go to the eighth-grade building, a school resource deputy removed the 14-year-old from his classroom. The deputy asked the eighth-grader whether or not he had a gun on him and he told him he had a handgun tucked into his waistband. The deputy, per the sheriff's office, arrested the 14-year-old after removing an unloaded "Glock 9 mm from the front right side of [the student's] waistband, and a magazine from his pocket that was loaded with one round."
After placing the 14-year-old under arrest, the deputy spoke to the student who reported the eighth-grader to the dean. The student told the deputy they had also been told the eighth-grader showed the gun to someone on Monday.
The deputy then interviewed that student and they confirmed the 14-year-old showed them the gun tucked into his waistband after they didn't give him "dap," which is slang for a fist bump. The student, per the sheriff's office, also told the deputy that on Tuesday, the 14-year-old was playing with a bullet and told them that he was going to "shoot up the school" and that "nobody will make it out alive."
Several other students were also interviewed, and they "reported that during math class on Tuesday, March 8, while [the eight-grader] was being picked on he made a motion with his hand as if he had a gun, and said, 'Don't come to school tomorrow,' then laughed."
"During the investigation, deputies learned [the student] obtained the gun from his parents’ locked bedroom while his parents were out of town – [the student's] grandfather was left in charge and did not know that the parents owned a firearm or that it was in the locked bedroom. He allowed [the student] in the room to use the shower in the master bathroom, at which time [the student] took the gun," the sheriff's office said in a press release.
The 14-year-old is charged with:
- possession of a firearm on school property (F3)
- grand theft of a firearm (F3)
- carrying a concealed firearm (F3)
- unlawful possession of a firearm by a minor (M1)
“The child who immediately reported this crime to school administrators is our hero – he heard something, and immediately said something. There is no telling what this eighth-grader might have done otherwise. This juvenile suspect is facing some serious felonies,” said Sheriff Grady Judd.
