Sheriff’s office makes arrest after weapon found in car on Godby High campus
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. May 22 2019 The Leon County Sheriff’s Office has arrested an 18-year-old for possession of a weapon on school grounds after he was found to be in possession of a firearm while on the Godby High School campus last week.
Officials say a deputy, who was assigned as the School Resource Deputy, was alerted to a suspicious vehicle in the student parking lot that included four occupants, three juvenile teenagers and 18-year-old Kyllien Anderson, none of which are students at GHS and are all residents of Gadsden County.
According to authorities, none of the occupants of the vehicle gave a “constructive,” reason to be on school property, which led to a search of the vehicle that resulted in the finding of a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, found under the rear passengers seat.
LCSO says the handgun was reported stolen out of the department.
Officials say all four occupants were detained for trespassing on school grounds and were separated for interviews.
Authorities say in his interview, Anderson claimed ownership of the firearm, saying he bought it for $250 from an individual on Instagram but said he didn’t remember the individual’s name.
Officials say Anderson admitted to attempting to discard the weapon outside the vehicle when he knew it was going to be searched but was told by one of the juveniles in the car to give him the gun to hide it.
LCSO says all three juveniles were transported to the Justice Administrative Commission without incident.
Officials say Anderson was taken to the Leon County Detention Facility and was charged with possession of weapon/firearm on school property, possession stolen property/trafficking stolen property and trespassing school grounds.
In a statement to WCTV, Chris Petley with Leon County Schools said the following.
“On Friday, May 17th, School Safety monitors noticed a group of unfamiliar individuals on the Godby Campus. The security monitors immediately notified the on campus School Resource Deputy. During an inquiry about why these individuals were on campus, a loaded fire arm was discovered in the vehicle they were driving. The trespassers were all arrested.
This year Leon County School’s invested $1 million to hire 50 unarmed security monitors to be distributed to all Leon County School’s campuses.
‘While it is unacceptable that a loaded weapon was found on one of our campuses, this is an example of how the system should work and why we invested heavily in both armed and unarmed school security personnel. Having spent the vast majority of my 30 year career in larger high schools I firmly believe the answer to securing our campuses lies in people. Across our district, unarmed security monitors are forming relationships with students, staff, parents and the trained armed officers at our schools. As happened on Friday, they are able to identify someone who looks suspicious and out of place and immediately notifies an armed sworn law enforcement officer to further investigate. We will be bringing the Godby security monitors to the school board meeting on Tuesday to recognize them for their work and their commitment to protecting our students and staff members from harm,’ said Superintendent Rocky Hanna.”
WCTV
