SWAT Team Shoots Armed Florida 8th-Grader

This kid is lucky he was only wounded!

An 8th-grader at a Florida middle school was shot and wounded when SWAT fired on him in a restroom. The boy gestured several times that he was going to kill himself and also stated the same thing.

After pointing the weapon at Sheriff's deputies the boy was shot and wounded.

LONGWOOD, Fla. - An eighth-grader was shot and wounded by a SWAT team officer in a school bathroom Friday after he pulled out a pellet gun that resembled a real weapon, authorities said.

He was shot after raising the gun at deputies.

Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said the 15-year-old boy brought the gun to Milwee Middle School in his backpack. Eslinger said two students saw it and one persuaded the other to report it, causing a scuffle.

The alleged gunman told one of the students to go into a closet, ran from the classroom and "traveled with this firearm throughout the campus," Eslinger said. Deputies eventually isolated him in a restroom, and the school was evacuated.

"At one time he held the gun to his neck. As the deputies attempted to establish dialogue, he raised the firearm and lethal force was used by the sheriff's office," Eslinger said.

The boy was taken to the hospital, where he was on "advanced life support" Friday afternoon, Eslinger said.

"He was suicidal," Eslinger said. "During this standoff, and during the chase, the student said he was going to kill himself or die."

No one else was injured. The sheriff's office confirmed later that the weapon was a pellet gun fashioned to look like a 9mm handgun.

Classes were canceled for the rest of the day, and frantic parents arrived to pick up their children.

"When I saw the news, I just couldn't believe this was my daughter's school. I came right away," said Anil Santos, whose daughter, Aleister, is in eighth grade.

Sarah Tivy, 12, said some students were frightened, but she appeared calm.

"I just figured that if someone is going to bring a gun to school, then they need to be taken out of school," she said.

Wow, a pellet gun! Holy shit, notify the gun control Nazi's and fire up the liberal propaganda machine, this could be the story that gets them another 15 minutes of fame, NOT!

I spent my first 5 years in the Air Force working Law Enforcement and I know what it feels like to have a weapon pulled or even pointed at me.

As real as many "toy" weapons look these days it is easy to understand why the deputy reacted the way he did. Reports were that the boy had a real firearm and it looked real.

When the shit hits the fan, your brain doesn't say that's a Glock Model 17 in 9mm or don't shoot that is just a perfect replica, but it is really just a pellet gun. The brain, says FUCK, GUN! I know. The officer reacted properly. Now, I don't know what type of gun this boys pellet gun looked like, but I can tell you the minute he pointed it at law enforcement all they saw was gun. Fight or flight; remember that!?!

I agree with 12 year old Sarah Tivy, that boy has no business in an ordinary public school; at least not until he has been adequately punished and educated.

lagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at January 14, 2006 12:15 PM | TrackBack