Sep 21, 2009 5:51 pm US/Eastern
14-Year-Old Arrested For Bringing Gun To School
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
A 14-year-old student is accused of bringing a .20 caliber handgun to school Monday, but was caught thanks to another student who tipped off authorities, Miami-Dade Schools police said.
The seventh grader at Leisure City K-8 Center in Homestead was arrested and taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center.
The latest incident occurred at the school 14950 SW 288th St. and it adds to the recent rise of student bringing weapons to schools.
On Friday, a gun was found in a back pack at Robert Morgan Educational Center, located at 18180 SW 122nd Avenue in Southwest Miami-Dade around 10:00 a.m.
Students say the gun was fired under an unknown circumstance. Police have not confirmed whether the weapon was discharged.
"I was on the second floor and I heard a gunshot and all the police went running and everything," one student told
CBS4's Gary Nelson. Another student said, "I was in class and all of the students heard like a loud 'pop' but we didn't know what happened. Then on the loud speaker they said we were on 'code red'."
The school went on an immediate lockdown.
Last week, at least eight students at nine different schools were taken into custody for bringing weapons to school. Those incidents came after the deadly September 15th incident in which Coral Gables Senior High sophomore Juan Carlos Rivera, 17, was stabbed to death in the school's courtyard. His alleged attacker, 17-year-old Andy Rodriguez is jailed at the Juvenile Detention Center without bond and charged with one count of second-degree murder.
Last week's incidents also included the following:
In Coral Springs, a 12-year-old boy faces first-degree murder charges after allegedly stabbing a 13-year-old boy in the back with a kitchen knife Friday afternoon. The incident occurred on the 10-thousand block of NW 17th Street. Then, the 12-year-old tried to kill himself by stabbing himself in the stomach with a separate knife, according to Coral Springs Police Sgt. Joe McHugh.
Seven incidents occurred on the same day -- September 17th.
At Miami Springs Senior High, a student was arrested for bringing a loaded .38 revolver. The student was taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center. "He wasn't waving it around but he was saying it was his right to have a gun," junior Amanda Valdespino described.
At South Dade Senior High, a 16-year-old student was on his way to school when he was arrested by Miami-Dade Police. His father called police to tell them he'd seen his son leave with the weapon. Officers discovered a multi-tool containing a knife in one of his pants pockets. The teen was taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center.
At Hialeah Miami Lakes Senior High, a student was arrested for brining a box cutter to school.
At Lake Stevens Middle School, a student was arrested for having a Taser on campus.
Students at Palm Springs Middle School, Michael Krop Senior High and Coral Park Senior High were arrested for carrying a knife on school grounds.
The incident at Palm Springs Middle in Hialeah sounded eerily familiar. Students say two eighth-graders were fighting; one held a knife.
"They just started messing around," William Tonoco said. "Then they started calling each other names and he just started to bring out a knife."
Students say police officers got there just in time. Students admitted they knew for days that their friend had a knife. In fact, students told CBS4's David Sutta that the student went after Daniel Monzon on Wednesday, supposedly joking around. He says he didn't say anything because "they may have a group of people and they can do something. They could jump or whatever."
The student at Coral Park High was caught showing off his knife to a friend. According to students, he was inspired by the deadly stabbing that took place at Coral Gables High on Tuesday.
"Someone was trying to be tough, act tough and say, 'Look, I bring a knife to school, too.'" Freshman Jean Paul Beyaert added, "So he brought it, showed it off."
Some parents who showed up at Coral Park Senior High were wearing black and told Sutta that they've had many close calls. Now, they're asking for change.
"I want more security in the schools and I want, as a mandatory class, for kids to learn how to control their anger because wherever they go, that's going to be the problem factor for all of them!" said mother Denise Delgado. Her daughter attends Coral Park. "They don't know how to control their anger and in a moment of anger, that's what happens! And any kid is prone to that."
All of these incidents prompted Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho to address the problem at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
"No child produces a weapon in school on their own," Carvalho said. "Every weapon that they are caught with at school they bring from home or from the streets."
In the 2007-08 school year, 117 weapons were found on 54 campuses in Miami-Dade County. Coral Park led the list with nine.
The hot line for anonymous tips about potential threats on campus is 305-995-COPS (2677) in Miami-Dade and 754-321-0911 in Broward.
CBS4'S Lisa Cilli contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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