MARION COUNTY, Fla. – A 17-year-old student at North Marion High School was arrested Thursday after bringing a loaded gun to school, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said another student had told a deputy at the school that he’d overheard two students in the bathroom talking about having a gun and killing someone.
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The deputy and the school’s principal then reviewed surveillance footage and were able to identify the two students — one of whom was the 17-year-old, the arrest affidavit shows.
Both students were searched, though neither had a gun on them, deputies said. The students told the deputy they had been talking about guns in a video game, the affidavit shows.
Surveillance video showed the 17-year-old with a book bag earlier in the day, but when he was pressed on its whereabouts, he claimed it belonged to his cousin, records show.
The student’s cousin told deputies she was asked by the teen to hold on to his book bag, according to investigators.
Upon searching the book bag, a loaded .22 caliber Taurus pistol was found wrapped inside a beanie, deputies said.
The 17-year-old then admitted to having the gun and told deputies he had found it in a ditch four weeks prior, records show.
He faces charges of possession of a firearm on school property and carrying a concealed firearm.
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