LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A Eustis High School student was arrested after a gun was found in his backpack on Monday, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office said the school resource deputy responded to a classroom after a teacher found a 9mm Kel-Tec Luger pistol in a student’s backpack.
Recommended Videos
[TRENDING: How to get vaccine in Florida | New attractions coming to Central Florida theme parks | FDA to consider cutting vaccine doses in half]
Investigators said the teacher advised she checked the backpack to find out who it belonged to and that’s when she found the weapon.
Deputies said the pistol appeared to be rusted and inoperative, though it had a bullet in its chamber.
LCSO said the 16-year-old student did not know the gun was in the backpack and said he had “fished” it out of Lake Eustis using a rope and a magnet.
The sheriff’s office said the investigation so far has determined the student did not have the weapon on his person in the hallways and there is no indication he intended to hurt anyone on campus.
The boy’s father said he had recently seen a picture of his son on Instagram posing with a gun and took the boy’s phone away as punishment, according to the affidavit.
Records show the teen said he’s a member of the Folk Nation, Gangsta Disciples gang in Mount Dora.
Deputies said the student was transported to the Lake County Jail.
He is facing charges of possession of a gun on campus and two counts of possession of a controlled substance after deputies said they found a Ritalin pill and Zolpidem pill in a bottle in his backpack.