COCONUT CREEK, FLA. (WSVN) - Police have recovered a gun on the campus of Coconut Creek High School hours after a report of a possible gunman on campus led officials to place the school on lockdown and officers to arrest a teenage boy.
7Skyforce hovered over the school, located at 1400 NW 44th Ave., and captured a large police presence at the scene, Friday afternoon.
A school resource officer received a tip that someone had brought a gun to the school.
The school was then placed on a code red lockdown.
Terrified students cloud be seen holding their hands up in video provided to 7News, as police officers searched for the gun and the suspect who was rumored to have brought it. Officers were also seen carrying long guns and going classroom by classroom.
The person who was said to have been armed was 16-year-old Tomarion Booker and was taken into police custody. He was later placed under arrest.
“It was so scary,” said a student in a pink shirt. “I’m not gonna lie, like it was so scary. I was so scared. I did not want to be there. I wanted to go home.”
Students told 7News that they had to stay on campus hours after dismissal, which is typically 1:35 p.m. Some students stayed hunkered down in their classrooms till 5 p.m. Those students said they needed to remain quiet and tucked away as far as possible in the back of the classroom for what students called “safe zones.”
“The lights were off and everything, and we had to be quiet,” said a student in a pink sweater.
“I cried for about five times, I kid you not, in a corner,” said Destiny Edwards, a senior. “It was freaky, it was scary. We were seeing people posting videos and about what happened, about SWAT teams here. You see the police with the guns and all that, you know, it’s scary.”
Law enforcement took no chances and sent a dive team into the canal behind the baseball fields, to make sure the gun wasn’t thrown into the water.
It wasn’t in the water, but police said they did find the gun near the baseball fields and that the serial number on the weapon was defaced.
No one else was detained or questioned.
Parents who gathered outside the campus to pick up their children said they were worried due to a lack of information given to them about the situation.
“My daughter and my son are both in there,” said Desi Santiago. “My daughter is texting me saying she’s scared, and she doesn’t want to come back to school. What do we do? What do we do as parents?”
Some students were directed to the community center south of the school to be picked up.
Booker did not threaten anyone with the weapon, just brought it to campus. He faces several charges, including one felony charge of possession of a firearm on school grounds.
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