A student at Palatka Junior-Senior High School faces a felony gun charge over a pistol found in a pickup on school grounds, according to authorities.
Deputies searched the teen’s truck on Monday and located a revolver and 17 shotgun shells.
Some revolvers can shoot shotgun shells, but the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office was unable to confirm any details about the case and said it was an active investigation.
The 17-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm on school property, a felony, according to a press release made by the sheriff’s office. The sheriff's office identified him and published his photograph on its Facebook page, but WUFT is withholding his name because he is facing a criminal charge in juvenile court.
The truck was searched to “ensure there was no firearm on school grounds,” according to a statement by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. The statement also said that the suspect’s truck was searched “following a Friday off-campus fight.”
Sheriff Homer ‘Gator’ DeLoach said that guns on a school campus will not be tolerated.
“I don’t care who you are, who you are related to, what you’re doing on the weekend. If you bring a firearm to school, you will be arrested and charged,” said DeLoach. “Many of you are almost 18 and, quite frankly, you won’t do well on the big boy side of jail.”
The suspect was taken to the Putnam County Jail and transferred to a Department of Juvenile Justice facility in Daytona Beach.
Under Florida law, it is illegal for a minor to possess a firearm unless actively hunting. Going to school is not a part of actively hunting, according to the statement from the sheriff’s office.