Two students brought unloaded handgun, BB gun to North Miami school, officials said

Two middle school students gave their North Miami school a scare on their first day back from winter break when they brought an unloaded handgun and a BB gun on campus, school district officials said.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokeswoman Jackie Calzadilla said Principal Anjanette Hallman noticed the two Benjamin Franklin K-8 Center students at the park next door rummaging through their book bags on Monday. Hallman asked police on campus to stop and search the two students separately before class started at 8:35 a.m., Calzadilla said.

The first student was found with the unloaded handgun. The second student tried to stash the unloaded BB gun somewhere on campus before being caught, Calzadilla said.

Miami-Dade Schools Police arrested both students and charged them with felonies. Calzadilla said the students have not returned to school and will face disciplinary actions.

The district did not identify the students or give their ages.

Darlene Velez, a grandparent of a student at the school, told NBC 6, “The principal gave an announcement on the phone saying that some students were arrested because they were armed. Scary. It’s really scary because this day and age, with the shootings in the schools, is a subject that really hits home for a lot of us.”

In 2019, several students were arrested in Florida for gun incidents or threats to schools. A Christopher Columbus High student in west Miami-Dade was arrested for a video which police interpreted as a mass shooting threat. Prosecutors dropped the case against the 16-year-old, saying they could not prove the threat was “credible.”

A 12-year-old Weston girl was arrested in December by Broward sheriff’s deputies who said she created a “death list” of Falcon Cove Middle School students. It’s unclear what the disposition of the case is.

This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 5:08 PM.