EUSTIS, Fla. — A 16-year-old Alee Academy student was arrested after police said an administrator found a loaded handgun and ammunition in his backpack.
Officers responded to the Eustis charter school at 7:42 a.m. Tuesday after the gun was found.
Darieum Nathaniel Hurst was being detained in the school’s front office when police arrived at the school.
An administrator said she had taken Hurst’s backpack to put it in the school’s lock box when she felt what seemed to be a gun inside, a Eustis police report said.
Students are not allowed to carry backpacks past the security checkpoint at the school.
The school has strict rules and students aren’t allowed to bring backpacks of cellphones past the security desk.
The teacher told investigators that she looked inside and found a loaded .22-caliber handgun, an empty extended magazine and three shotgun shells.
Hurst told officers that the gun wasn’t his and that “someone put it there,” the report said.
Investigators found that Hurst was beaten up by two other students on Aug. 31, but he continued to say that the gun wasn’t his, and denied bringing it to school in retaliation for the fight, officials said.
Hurst was arrested on charges of possession of a firearm on school grounds, possession of a firearm by a minor and possession of a concealed weapon.
Parents weren’t immediately notified of the incident because school officials said the matter was handled quickly, and that no one was in danger.
School administrators said Hurst will likely be expelled.