CORAL SPRINGS, FLA. (WSVN) - Coral Springs High School was temporarily placed on lock down, Monday, after students quickly notified authorities of a former student who was seen carrying a gun around the school’s premises.
According to Coral Springs Police, a male subject, who was later identified as former Coral Springs High School student Ryan Trollinger, was quickly detained after students reported they seeing someone with a gun on campus.
Police said they have charged Trollinger, 17, with felony possession of a firearm on school property, and three misdemeanors: possession of firearm by a minor, trespassing and disruption of a school function.
Coral Springs Police Sgt. Carla Kmiotek said the two students who reported the gun did not see it, but were told about it by another student who saw Trollinger lift his shirt and display the gun to a friend. They then told School Resource Officer Jeff Heinrich and described the friend of Trollinger, according to police.
Heinrich heard Trollinger was on campus and knew that Trollinger was not a student, according to Kmiotek.
“He immediately detained him and Trollinger tried pulling away, the officer cuffed and searched him a recovered a loaded 9mm from his front waist band,” Kmiotek said in a statement.
The school was placed on lockdown as officers searched for the friend initially described by the students. The friend, a current student whose name has not been released because he was detained under the Baker Act providing temporary detention for psychological evaluation, had a 10-page “journal” in his pocket, according to Kmiotek. It was in the student’s handwriting.
The journal talks about shooting up the school in January 2017. “Kill Them All!!!! (Guns Rule),” reads one entry.
“I want to be the worst school shooter in America worst than Columbine, Virginia Tech, And Sandy Hook,” reads another.
“I will be so infamous I might inspire more school shooters,” he wrote in another.
According to Kmiotek, the current student said that Trollinger told him on Monday, “Today is the day, it’s going down.”
However, the current student is not being charged because, police said, they have nothing tying him to what happened at the school on Monday.
At Trollinger’s home, his family was clearly shaken.
When asked whether this was a possible tragedy diverted, Coral Springs Police Sgt. Carla Kmiotek said, “Definitely, definitely was, and it was an excellent job by those students in immediately notifying law enforcement.”
One student, Anthony Carlos, said students went into classrooms and hid under desks.
“They just pulled us into like any closest classroom they could. Like lock down, hiding under desks and everything, but administrators kept me safe though,” Carlos said.
Police said they are following a lead for the motive, but would not disclose it. They said the next step is evaluating whether Trollinger or the other young man pose a threat to the school.
Many parents who were notified of the lock down quickly drove to Coral Springs High School to make sure their children were OK.
“I got here about an hour ago, and I saw police cars and police with machine guns,” said Ken Corey, the father of a student, “so I immediately went up to a cop, and he told me there was a gun situation and that there was a student with a gun. I was praying for my son. I immediately called him, got a hold of him on the phone.”
One mother decided to pick up her son after the incident, even though he usually rides his bike home.
“We live in an unsafe world. It’s just part of everyday living, I guess,” she said.
After the lockdown was lifted, students were released from school. Some expressed concerns that more people would bring weapons to school.
“I kinda worry that people will come more with weapons and all that,” said one student.
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