Teen charged with having firearm on school property

[Photo courtesy MCSO]

A 17-year-old Belleview High School junior was arrested at the school on May 20 and charged with possession of a firearm on school property and possession of a firearm by minor, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

According to an MCSO arrest affidavit, the school resource officer, MCSO Deputy Daniel Luiken, on May 20, “became aware” of an allegation that a student had a gun in his car while in the school parking lot.

The deputy and a school official spoke with a student who alleged the juvenile defendant was sitting in his car after school dismissal on May 19 and pulled out a black and tan “probably a 9 (mm) or a Glock” handgun, which the juvenile defendant allegedly said was real, from under the passenger seat while “hanging out” with other students.

Some friends of the juvenile defendant told law enforcement they saw nothing “mentioned” or “shown” (at the juvenile defendant’s car) that would not be allowed on campus.”

A student alleged the juvenile defendant unloaded the firearm and another student was said to have been “spinning” the gun “like a cowboy,” the affidavit stated.

When the school official and officer began to investigate the incident on May 20, the allegation of the incident the day before could not be collaborated and the juvenile defendant was marked as “absent,” according to the affidavit. Neither the car he regularly drives to school nor the car he drove that day, which belonged to a relative, could be located, the affidavit indicated.

About an hour later, the juvenile defendant was found, and the officer and a school official spoke with him. He denied the alleged firearm incident and was “cooperative” about a search of the borrowed car, which yielded no contraband, the affidavit stated.

Around 2:15 p.m. on May 20, another student indicated the juvenile defendant was heard saying in class that law enforcement had searched his car but he had already “wrapped the gun in a black t-shirt and threw it in the woods behind the car,” the affidavit stated.

MCSO Cpl. Corey Stone responded to the school parking lot and found the juvenile defendant’s car parked near a patch of woods between the high school and Belleview Middle School. He noted a foot path going into the woods, where he soon located a black and tan handgun wrapped in a black t-shirt about 10 feet into the woods, according to the affidavit.

In the affidavit Luiken described finding “a black t-shirt with a race car theme emblem (and) the firearm is an Arex Delta L Gen 2 with a serial number and had a flashlight attachment under the barrel.”

The officer noted “there was a partially loaded magazine with 16 rounds of 9mm ammunition” but no round in the chamber, the affidavit stated.

According to MCSO public information officer Lt. Paul Bloom, Luiken arrested the teen. According to the affidavit, after he was read his rights, the juvenile defendant “spontaneously uttered” that he “did bring the firearm to school but it was not his” and added he had the “firearm in his car yesterday after school was dismissed” but that he “had not purchased it from anyone.”

The juvenile defendant was then transported to the Marion County Jail, the affidavit indicates.

According to the Florida Department of Education School Environmental Safety Incident Report at fldoe.org, for the 2023-2024 school year, Marion County Public Schools districtwide reported 42 incidents related to “weapons possession,” involving eight arrests. The data also indicates that statewide, for 2023-2024, there were 1,496 incidents related to weapons possession, involving 279 arrests.