PORT ORANGE, Fla. -- A high school freshman, who took a gun to school Friday, was turned in by his own mother. The teen was arrested minutes after he stepped foot on campus of Atlantic High School in Port Orange (see map).

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The boy actually had the gun in his Strawberry Shortcake backpack. Inside a second pink backpack, deputies also found four cell phones, which students told Eyewitness News the boy was known to steal, plus pliers and a screwdriver for allegedly breaking into lockers.

Before the first bell rang at Atlantic High School, 15-year-old Eddie Emanuel was already in custody. It was his own mother who called the school resource officer after noticing the gun was missing at home.

"I would've done the same thing. I would've done the same thing," parent Dan O'Donnell said.

Stuffed inside the Strawberry Shortcake bag, was a .38-caliber automatic handgun, with a loaded magazine and four loose rounds. Emanuel wouldn't tell deputies why he brought it to the school.

Eyewitness News went to his Port Orange home to try to find out, but no one came to the door.

"There's a lot of rumors going around, like, apparently he just came here to sell it. I don't know what his intentions were," student Jessica White said.

"I just really want to know why he was bringing a gun to Atlantic. Was it to harm someone or for show or what?" questions student Ryan O'Donnell.

School officials said the situation could not have been handled any better. Minutes after the phone call about the gun came in, the boy was sitting down with a deputy.

"It's good knowing that we're safe in there, that something that serious can be handled in the blink of an eye," student Jessica Mayo said.

Emanuel was also found with a small amount of marijuana in his backpack. He was booked at the juvenile detention center.