A Leon County 11th grader who brought a taser and pepper-spray to school has been arrested. The Sheriff’s Office says since the start of the school year, 4 weapons have been found on the school district’s K-12 campuses.
The student told officials she brought the taser and spray for self-defense. But an anonymous tip that they were in her possession led to her arrest. She was charged with two counts.
Shonda Knight, who’s in charge of community relations for the sheriff’s office, is urging parents to step in.
“What we’re encouraging families to do is to have a conversation with your child," Knight said. "And if they feel threatened, or if they feel that they are unsafe, let’s create an environment so they don’t have that to worry about. Let’s get volunteers in our community to sign up to walk kids to school. You know, parents walk kids to school and make sure that we create these environments, so students don’t feel unsafe. But we can NOT tolerate weapons on campus.”
She says students bring weapons to school for different reasons.
“We’ve heard from some that they have it for their protection," Knight said. "But the thing to realize is there’s a zero-tolerance policy for weapons on campus. We don’t have a gauge of why people bring them on campus. We just have to make sure that our campuses stay safe for all of our children.”
Knight says parents and students can use an app to report weapons on campus anonymously. It’s called FortifyFL.
