Deltona High School Student Charged With Felony After Gun Comment At Front Gate

Date Added: February 22, 2018 1:32 pm

Andrew Gant
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

DELTONA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CHARGED WITH FELONY AFTER GUN COMMENT AT FRONT GATE

A Deltona High School student who made a comment about having a gun in his backpack on campus this morning is facing a criminal charge after his statement was reported to a school resource deputy.

The 16-year-old male student was charged with making a false report concerning the use of a firearm, a felony, under F.S.S. 790.164.

A deputy responded to the front gate this morning after the gate attendant heard the student say “I have a gun in my backpack” as he walked on campus.

The student told the deputy he only meant the comment as a joke. However, students who continue to make jokes or other threatening statements about guns, explosives, other weapons or other acts of violence will continue to face potential criminal charges as the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies show zero tolerance for this type of behavior.

Deputies have recently arrested three other students after receiving reports of threats against Volusia schools. Last Friday, a 14-year-old student at Heritage Middle School made statements in class about blowing up and shooting up his classroom. He was charged with making a false report of a bomb and disrupting a school function. On Tuesday, a 13-year-old student at Taylor Middle-High School in Pierson was charged with threatening to discharge a destructive device after students heard him say he might bring a gun to school and shoot people.

Also Tuesday, DeLand police charged a student with disrupting a school function after he came to school with a cell phone case that closely resembled a handgun, prompting a lockdown of DeLand High School.

On Wednesday, a 14-year-old student at Deltona Middle School was charged with making a false report of a bomb after his third-period teacher reported the student yelled out a threat about blowing up the school.