BUNNELL, Fla. – A 14-year-old is facing charges after he brought a gun to a high school basketball game and posted on social media about it, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said in a release.
On Jan. 31, a school resource deputy was informed about a photo on social media showing a student holding a handgun in a school bathroom at a Matanzas High School basketball game.
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Several students identified the teen as a student at Indian Trails Middle School, deputies said.
Deputies reviewed surveillance footage from the night of the basketball game, which showed the teen entering the bathroom several times during the game.
At one point, the teen entered the bathroom with three other middle school students, who can be seen running out of the bathroom minutes later, footage shows.
One student, who was identified as one of the three who entered the bathroom with the 14-year-old in the surveillance footage, said he saw him lift his shirt to reveal the gun, leading him and two other students to run out of the bathroom.
When deputies informed the student that they were getting a search warrant for his cell phone, he denied his involvement and refused to give up his phone. Deputies told him that he needed to remain in the room but the student resisted, leading to an altercation where the student was placed in handcuffs.
The sheriff’s office obtained the search warrant on Feb. 14, where they said they found several photos of the student with the gun and confirmed that they were taken at the high school during the basketball game.
The student faces charges including resisting an officer with violence and exhibition of a weapon on school property.
He was processed at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and was transferred to the Volusia County Juvenile Detention Center.
“If you bring a weapon onto school grounds, you will be arrested,” said Sheriff Rick Staly in a statement. “I commend the students that notified our School Resource Deputy of the photo that was circulating on social media. In this case the ‘see something, say something’ may have averted a tragedy that was in the making."
Investigators found that the student told other students that he had disposed of the gun and no longer had it.
The gun has not been recovered. If you know the whereabouts of the gun, please submit a tip by calling 386-313-4911, emailing TIPS@flaglersheriff.com, using the FCSO app or website, or through the FortifyFL app at getfortifyfl.com.