- December 20, 2024
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A teacher at Buddy Taylor Middle School, located at 4500 Belle Terre Parkway, received information that a student may have a firearm in his backpack Friday, Dec. 7. The teacher alerted school administration and BTMS School Resource Deputy Cory Petty to conduct an investigation, according to a press release from the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.
The student, a 14-year-old male, was detained, and a loaded handgun was found in the student’s backpack. There was no magazine in the firearm, but there was one round in the chamber. Sheriff Staly, members of the Sheriff’s Investigations Services Division and FCSO’s Domestic Homeland Security Section are also on scene.
The firearm was a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun. The gun was found to have been stolen on April 23, 2018, from the burglary of an unlocked vehicle on Point Pleasant Drive in Palm Coast.
The suspect was previously arrested on Nov. 3, 2017, after witnesses saw him holding a girl in a choke hold near the Pine Lakes Apartments on Pine Lakes Parkway. The victim reported to deputies that the suspect had been following her when he attempted to take her backpack. He was sent to teen court and relieved of all charges in that case.
“Our number one concern is the safety of our students and thankfully we were able to thwart any plans this juvenile may have had before someone was injured during today’s incident,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in the news release. “This student now faces multiple felonies for his actions. Make no mistake, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office takes a zero tolerance approach to weapons and threats on school campuses. This incident was safely resolved because of the great cooperation between school personnel, students, School Resource Deputies, the Sheriff’s Office and the systems we have put in place.”
Flagler Schools Superintendent James Tager said in the release, “I want to point out the ‘see something, say something’ campaign works. I commend that, combined with the quick actions of our School Resource Deputies, to bringing a quick resolution to this incident.”
This is a developing story. More information will be released as it becomes available.
