PALM COAST – Two high school students in Flagler County were arrested in the span of three days last week, one each at Flagler Palm Coast High School and Matanzas High School. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office detailed each incident in separate reports in the days following their occurrences.
Fake Gun at Flagler Palm Coast High School
The first incident happened at Flagler Palm Coast High School on Wednesday, October 4th. A 15-year-old FPCHS student was accused of pointing a fake, but real-looking, gun at two other students. He’s said to have threatened to shoot them with it. School Resource Deputy Nicholas Champion responded, and recounted the incident from the two threatened students.
According to the FCSO’s report the suspect student pulled the trigger on the fake gun multiple times until the other two students hid in the bathroom. Upon their re-emergence, he is said to have again brandished it at them. At this point they noticed an orange tip, indicative of fake guns, and the ruse was up.
The suspect, whose name will not be disseminated in this article, was spoken to at FPCHS by SRD Champion. He identified the gun as a gel blaster gun made to look like a Glock, with fake graffiti drawn on it. Two charges were levied against the suspect: felony aggravated assault and improper exhibition of a firearm.
“Never, ever threaten someone’s life, even with a fake gun,” said Sheriff Rick Staly of the incident. “A prank like this will only get you arrested. This type of behavior will not be tolerated in our schools.” The student was arrested, booked at the county jail, and then transferred to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
Staff Member Bitten at Matanzas High School
The second of the two incidents occurred at Matanzas High School two days after the first. This time two students were said to be in a fight in the school courtyard. SRD John Landi was called to respond, and arrived to see an employee standing near the fight holding their wounded arm.
The bitten employee said that they stepped in to break up the fight, and put their arm around one of the participants. The 16-year-old was then said to have bit the employee’s arm until the skin was broken. Afterward the student, who will also not be named, was booked at the county jail and then the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. They were charged with battery on a school official.
“This lack of respect for teachers and staff will not be tolerated in our schools,” Staly said. “School staff and teachers are here to teach you. Don’t fight in school. It takes a bigger person to walk away from a fight and de-escalate the situation than to engage in a fight or attack a faculty member. Parents, talk and teach your students how to handle disagreements and that fighting is not the solution. This will help them for a lifetime. Otherwise, if you don’t do your job as a parent, we will do our job and arrest your child, which we don’t want to do, but we will not tolerate this kind of behavior in our schools.”
TR
October 9, 2023 at 10:29 pm
Glad they all got arrested.
But I have a problem with not printing their names. They want to act tough and commit crimes that are usually committed be adults, then threat them like adults. Post name in news articles as well as post their mug shoot on the FCSO website. I’ll bet if that happens then the parents might step up and deal with their little bundle of joy with their own punishment. Oh and I don’t want to hear from anyone that under age kids rights are protected. What about the rights of the victims and them not having to deal with stuff like this. The school is suppose to be a place to learn and be safe. Well it was back in my day. But now not so much. I believe it’s because the punishments for juveniles is to lenient and lack of parental guidance. JMO
Chris Gollon
October 11, 2023 at 1:01 am
If I may respond to those points:
Posting the minors’ identity doesn’t actually do anything to hold them accountable. Once the Sheriff’s Office makes the decision to include the name in their report, it can be accessed forever. It’ll turn up in background checks and it’ll be easily searchable by prospective employers and other concerned parties in the future. Consequences for criminal conduct are totally up to law enforcement and prosecutors; we as media inform the community in as complete yet ethical a way as we can. To spread a suspect’s name with the sole intent of us administering consequences would be an overstep of our job responsibilities.
Secondly, there remains the chance that these and other minors like them may reform. Short of a homicide or other heinous felony, I believe kids should be afforded the opportunity to get back on the right track. It’s not hiding their past to omit their names from reports, it’s merely preventing their actions from holding them back years or decades later if they’ve made better choices since. Better to try and give every kid that chance than to unduly deprive some of it.
To your point, it’s impossible not to print the names of the Brendan Depas and Nicole Jacksons of the world, their accused crimes are much too serious. But if I have the opportunity to make a choice that will help these kids better themselves down the line, I’m going to take it.
TR
October 11, 2023 at 10:27 pm
Well I don’t agree with it at all. It’s your site and can do what you want. But just because they’re kids shouldn’t eliminate their names from public publication just like any other person who commits a crime regardless of age. So because these punks want to act like adults and commit a felony charge like adults, but because they’re kids their name aren’t published. What about the real adults that commit misdemeanor crimes, why is their names and pictures published, just because their adults? I wonder how many of those adults committed crimes as a kid and (based on your theory) because their names and picture weren’t published at the time, they continued to commit crimes and didn’t change their ways. So I guess we will agree to disagree.